Goodbye
by LittleRedOne
Summary: You can't help who you love. So what do you do when you love your best friend's girlfriend and she loves you back? And what about that pesky friend who figures it all out? Nitchie/Smitchie; Nate's POV. With some Naitlyn friendship.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **I'm working on a bundle of different Camp Rock oneshots (along with You've Got a Friend) with various pairings. This just happened to be begging to be posted since I love Nitchie. It takes place years after Camp Rock.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

**Goodbye  
A Nate/Mitchie and Shane/Mitchie FanFiction  
As told by Nate**

"I want to be lost in this moment forever," I heard Shane whisper, rather loudly, in her ear in time with the song. I saw her stiffen in his arms. He was taking her in slow circles on the dance floor, right in front of me.

You see, things have been, shall we say, _awkward _between them lately. We became close friends as her and Shane became more distant. Shane's seemingly lost all his power to be romantic. He didn't ever do anything for her anymore. It's like he just stopped trying. I could and would give her the deserved treatment though. She'd be my princess. And she's planning to end their boring, repetitive relationship very soon so I can do just that.

I watched them continue to spin, her eyes locking with mine each time she'd face me, a pleading look in them. I grabbed my phone and dialed Caitlyn's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Cait. Can you give Mitchie a call? She needed to talk to you about something important."

"I thought you guys were at her cousin's wedding?"

"We are, but please, just call her."

"Okay," she said confused and hung up.

I watched a moment later as Mitchie disentangled herself from Shane looking apologetic and reached in her purse for her phone.

"Oh hey Cait! I was hoping I'd hear from you soon. I needed to talk to you."

A pause.

"No, now's not a bad time. Let me just go in the other room so I can hear you better."

With a quick, again apologetic look to Shane, she left the dance floor, winking her thanks to me as she passed by to go talk to Caitlyn.

I looked down and shook my head. I hoped she breaks up with him soon. I don't know if I can go much longer with out her being mine. I looked up as someone pulled out a chair a couple down from mine.

"Hey Shane, having fun?" He nodded.

"Can I ask you a favor?" he asked after a few moments silence.

"Anything."

"Do you think you could help me pick out Mitchie's birthday present?"

"You haven't gotten her anything yet?" I asked shocked. Her birthday was in less then a week. I started buying her presents almost two months ago.

"I haven't had time. And I have no idea what she'd want," he defended.

"Shane," I groaned. "She's your girlfriend! You shouldn't have to come to me five _days_ before her birthday to ask for help with her gift!"

"Who else would I go to?" he responded hotly. "You're the best at picking out presents, and you two are like best friends, you should know what she'd want."

"I _do_ know what she wants! That's why _I _bought her presents two _months _ago!"

"Please? Just help me?"

"Help you what?" Mitchie asked sitting between us.

"Nothing sweetie," Shane smiled.

"Help him what?" she turned to me.

"Nothing Mitch, he just got himself a bit stuck in something and wants me to bail him out."

"Well then, are you going to help him?" I sighed.

"Yeah. There's no way I couldn't."

And there really was no way. I couldn't say no, then Mitchie would end up with a terrible present on her birthday from the person who was supposed to get her the best. Of course, no matter what I help him get her, it won't compare to all the gifts I got her. Most of mine are carefully thought out, personal gifts.

"I always knew you were a nice guy Nate," she smiled. I smiled back at the compliment.

"Thanks Nate, really man, this means a lot. We'll do it tomorrow or Monday okay?"

"Not tomorrow!" Mitchie interrupted.

"Why?" Shane asked. Mitchie rolled her eyes.

"Honestly Shane, do you remember _anything_? Tomorrow we're having my family over for my birthday party since everyone's already in town for the wedding."

"I thought we were having your party _on_ your birthday?"

"That's the one _we're_ throwing her," I informed.

"Oh. Well, what times this party tomorrow then?"

"Eleven," I said automatically. Mitchie smiled.

"_Someone_ remembers these things!"

"You were invited?"

"You seriously just asked that?" Mitchie asked Shane, now annoyed. "I invited the two of you, Jason, Caitlyn and all your families."

"Oh."

"Yeah. _Oh._ I'm going to go find my cousin and his new wife," she huffed, getting up and leaving.

I looked to Shane. "That was stupid man. Very stupid."

* * *

**A/N:** Short chapter for now, but this is just to see how the story goes over. They'll get longer eventually.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **I decided I'd update this as often as I update "You've Got a Friend". So whenever I update that one, the update for this one won't be far behind. Like usual, thanks for the reads, reviews, favs and alerts. And remember, it's all in Nate's point of view.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

"If you're leaving with me you better hurry up! I said I'd be there early to help set a few things up!" I hollered through the foyer of Shane's house.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" I heard him holler back from upstairs.

"If you're not down here in three minutes I won't hesitate to leave with out you!"

"Then how would I get there?"

"Oh I don't know, Jason or Caitlyn. Or, here's a crazy idea, you could drive your_self _for once!"

"I hate driving!"

"And I hate being late when someone's waiting on me to help them. One minute!"

"Shoot Nate! I can't be ready in one minute!"

"I'm leaving. Call Jason for a ride." And with out waiting for him to respond I left, slamming the door behind me, signalling my departure.

I hopped in my truck and drove to Mitchie's house. I hated not showing up at the time someone expected me to and Mitchie was expecting me in twenty minutes so I really had to hurry. I just hoped there wasn't any traffic.

I smiled as I pulled into her drive way with two minutes to spare. I grabbed her gifts, well, the ones she was getting today, out of the glove box and made my way up to the door, ringing the bell when I reached it.

"Nate! The party's not for another hour still," Connie, Mitchie's mom, greeted me with a hug after she opened the door.

"I know, but I told Mitchie I'd come help her set up."

"Like she's actually setting anything up," her dad laughed as he approached us.

"She's upstairs getting herself ready, not the party."

"Oh Steve," Connie scolded lightly, "she's turning 22 this Thursday; let the girl get all dolled up for her party." Her dad shook his head.

"If you'd really not mind helping, I could actually use your assistance."

"Of course Steve. Can I just run up and say hi to Mitchie first?"

"No problem. I'll be out back when you're ready."

"Thanks. I'll be back in a few," I said making my way up the stairs down the oh-so-familiar hallway. I set her gifts down outside so she couldn't peek.

"Mitchie?" I called knocking on her door.

"Come in!" I opened the door and scanned the room, my eyes coming to a rest on her figure laying on her bed in an old Connect 3 t-shirt and short cotton shorts.

"That what you're wearing to the party then?" I laughed. "And here I thought this was a bit more of a formal thing than that. I just may be over dressed," I looked down to my outfit.

"Oh shove it!" she chucked her pillow at me. "I'm trying to decide what to wear."

"And how are the options looking from your bed? The closet isn't even open."

"I know what I own. I don't need to see it. It's just that I wore my favorite dress to the wedding yesterday so now I need to pick one of the others."

"Would you like some help?"

"You're really going to help me pick out clothes?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Nope, I'm just going to give you a little suggestion."

"I'm all ears then," she said sitting up.

"You look gorgeous in that gray dress with your basic black leggings."

"Thanks," she blushed.

"Besides," I smirked, "it just may be the outfit to go with a certain present you're getting today." My smirk turned to a smile as she squealed excitedly.

"Tell me you got me that hat and scarf!"

"I can't tell you what your present is! That's cheating!"

"Oh you did! You're the best Nate!" She cried jumping up to hug me.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said holding her tightly.

"I'm sure you don't. Now go!" she said shooing me to the door. "I've got to get ready!"

"Okay, okay!" I laughed holding my hands up in surrender and backing out of her room. "I should be helping your dad anyway."

* * *

"Where's the birthday girl?" Mitchie's Aunt Sage asked as soon as I opened the door to admit her.

"She should be down in a minute. She's just adding her last minute touch ups."

"Oh, but I wanted to be the first one in the family to say happy birthday," she frowned.

"Why don't you head up to see her?" I suggested. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind you being up there."

"Which room is hers again? It's been forever since I was here."

"Come on, I'll bring you up there."

"Are you sure it's okay if you go up there?" she asked eyeing me.

"It's fine. I haven't seen her since I got here about an hour ago anyway." She nodded and we headed up the stairs. When she entered the room I caught a glimpse of Mitchie sitting at her mirror putting on lip-gloss.

"Shoo, shoo," Aunt Sage said. "This is a lady's room young man."

"Oh he's been in here too many times to count Aunt Sage. It's okay," Mitchie smiled. "Everything set up downstairs?"

"Yes, thanks to your help."

"Hey! I had to get ready!" I shook my head.

"I'm on greeter duty so I better get back down there. I'll see you ladies when you're done up here." I left and closed the door behind me.

"He's such a gentlemen," I heard Aunt Sage say before I walked away.

"Yeah, Nate's really something," Mitchie responded. I smiled and headed back downstairs to greet more of Mitchie's relatives.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

Shane didn't show up until most of the guests were already there. And by then both Mitchie and me were playing the role of greeter.

"What took you so long?" I asked. "Jason and Caitlyn have both been here for half an hour."

"Yeah, well my ride left with out me earlier."

"I told you to call Jason for a ride! Why didn't you?"

"I didn't think you'd actually left!"

"Come on Shane, that's not the first time I've done it, surely you could have expected it. How'd you get here anyway?"

"Em brought me." I blinked.

"You called my sister for a ride?"

"Well she was coming here anyway!" he defended.

"So where is she?" Mitchie asked.

"Parking the car. I had her drop me at the driveway."

"Let me get this straight, you bummed a ride from my sister, made her drop you at the party, and left her to go park and walk all the way here from the car herself?"

"She said it was fine," he shrugged.

"You kill me sometimes Shane," I said shaking my head and heading out the door.

"Where are you going?" Mitchie asked.

"To meet Em so she doesn't have to walk alone all this way."

"Jeremey was with her!" Shane hollered to my back but I ignored it and went to meet my sister and apparently my brother too.

"Hey Nate, where you headed?" Emily asked as I reached the two of them.

"To find you guys. I couldn't believe Shane just left you to walk alone."

"It's no biggie. It's his girlfriend's party."

"I know, and _I _was the one here to help set up an hour before it started. Not the one showing up half an hour late," I said bitterly.

"Hang in there bro," Jeremey clapped a hand on my shoulder. "She'll come around eventually.

I smiled at him. Both Jeremey and Emily knew I was in love with Mitchie and were constantly encouraging me. Neither of them knew though that she'd be coming around a lot sooner then eventually.

"Thanks Jer, let's get in there so you can greet the birthday girl!"

* * *

"Would I be able to steal the birthday girl away for a dance?"

"No way," Mitchie's cousin Tara answered. "That's only a boyfriend's privilege. Best friends have to wait their turn just like the rest."

My face fell.

"Guys, its Nate. He gets _every_ privilege," Mitchie spoke up. "And I'd personally love to dance with him."

I beamed at her and brought her out on the dance floor. I took her in slow circles; much like Shane had the night before. As the song came to an end she pulled me closer in a tight hug.

"Not much longer Nate," she whispered.

"It'd wait forever if I had to," I whispered back.

"I love you," she said as she pulled away and planted a kiss on my cheek.

"I love you too."

"Mind if I take her for a spin around the floor now?" Shane asked interrupting our moment.

"She's your girlfriend," I responded with a tight smile as I handed her over.

"What was that?" I heard from behind me as I watched Shane lead her away.

"What was what?"

"That. You and Mitchie."

"Dancing." She looked at me with an "I'm not stupid" look. "We're best friends Caitlyn. You know that."

"I'm not so sure anymore."

"What are you suggesting?"

"I think there's something going on between you and Mitchie."

"Like what? She's cheating on him with me? Yeah right Caitlyn. You know us both better then that."

"Maybe not cheating, but something is up. And I'll figure it out."

"Good luck with that," I said before walking away to find Jason.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Thanks for the reviews, alerts, and favorites. And for even bothering to read this at all!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

"Hey Jase."

"Sup Nate?"

"Just looking for some friendly conversation."

"Well you came to the right place buddy!" he grinned widely.

"I was hoping I had," I smiled. Jason was always so cheery.

"You excited for Mitchie's birthday and party Thursday?"

"Yeah. I can't wait to give her my gifts. She'll love them."

"How many'd you get her?"

"Too many," I laughed. "I've got two to give her today and another three for on her actual birthday."

"Wait," his eyes widened, "we were supposed to bring her a present _here_?"

"You didn't have to, but I figured it was better then giving her five at once."

"Well if you brought something I want to give her something!" he panicked.

"Maybe if I leave now I can make it home and back with one of her presents."

"Calm down Jason. You can give her one of mine if it's that important to you."

"No way dude, you picked them out. I can't give her them!"

"Really Jase, you can give her this one here," I said grabbing one of mine off the nearby table and handing it to him. "It's a hat and scarf she really wanted. And it goes with her outfit."

"No Nate. I'll go get something else."

"Jason. Take it. It's the most generic of all the gifts I got her anyway. That's why I brought it here for the family party."

"Fine," Jason sighed after thinking it over. "I'll make it up to you though. Thanks."

It soon came time for Mitchie to settle down and open her presents. I sat next to her and watched her open present after present stifling laughs at some. Apparently not all of her family was up on the latest trends and fashions like she was. I wasn't even sure certain members of her family even knew anything about her. She took them all like a pro though, smiling and thanking each person.

She opened Jason's and squealed excitedly when she saw the hat and scarf she expected from me inside.

"I wanted these _so_ bad! You're the best!" She says putting them on right away.

She hugged him and I heard him whisper, "They're from Nate really, I didn't know we were supposed to bring presents since we're having a party Thursday, so he let me give you one of his."

"Well I love them all the same. Thank you," she whispered back. She sat back down and turned to me expectantly. I raised an eyebrow in response. "Well?"

"Yeah?" I played dumb.

"I know you're hiding a present somewhere."

"Oh is _that _what this box under my chair is?" I asked pulling it out from under me.

"Give me please!" she grinned. I shook my head and relinquished the gift. She tore into the paper excitedly, knowing that the chances of loving her gift were high. With no more wrapping in her way she slowed her pace and lifted the lid off the box. She looked to me and smiled brightly before removing it from the box. It was a pillow, a _personalized_ pillow. I know it doesn't sound like an ideal gift for your 22 birthday, but she wanted it, I promise.

"Nate," she said softly, tracing over the design. "It's better then I imagined."

The pillow was a solid purple and in bright pink letters her name was spelled across the front of it. In two corners there were pictures, one group shot of all our friends and one of just the two of us taken not too long ago. In the other two corners were two quotes that I searched hard to find. "Never give up on something that you can't go a day with out thinking about." And "If I had only one friend left, I'd want it to be you."

I heard laughing and looked up to see Shane and one of Mitchie's cousins, Jack I think his name was, laughing and gesturing to the pillow. Anger flared up in me and I clenched my fists. Where did Shane get off laughing at my gift? She happened to love it, even requested it! And besides, it's not like he even _had _a gift to give her. I smirked as I thought that. Jason gave her a gift, though it was from me originally. Caitlyn brought her one. My sister and brother gave her one. I gave her one. Where was one from Shane though? Oh, that's right, he didn't have one to give her today. He didn't even have one to give her on her birthday. He still had to buy it. And I had to help him.

I was drawn out of my thoughts at the feel of a hand, Mitchie's hand, on my arm. She looked at me worriedly, her eyes asking what was wrong, but I shook my head.

"Thanks for the pillow Nate," she said pulling me in to a hug. "I didn't think it'd be this, perfect."

"I'm glad you like it Mitch," I said hugging her tight. "It took me a long time to make a final decision."

"I don't think I could not like something you get me," she laughed.

"Wait until you get your other gifts Thursday before you make that declaration."

She laughed again. "Like I need to wait to make sure."

She pulled away, moving on to the next present. I was pleased to see that the pillow stayed right on her lap the whole time.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm sure the idea of a personalized pillow seems silly to some, if not most, of you, but really, they're so nice. One of my best friends made one for another friend of ours and me once. We're big on personalized things.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** I'm not trying to make Shane in to a jerk in this story. He's just a bit clueless and what not.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

By the time most of Mitchie's family finally left I was ready to follow them out of here. I wouldn't mind hanging around and helping to clean up usually, but Shane was being abnormally attentive to Mitchie all of a sudden and it was driving me insane. And she loved it too! I gave her that attention all the time; she doesn't need it from him. He probably realized his mistake earlier when he ended up the _only_ one not giving her a present. Of course, he just said he refused to give it to her until her actual birthday. Gee, could that be because he doesn't even _have_ it yet?

"Sorry to cut out before clean-up, but I've got a few things I need to do," I said apologetically to her parents.

"No worries Nate, you _did_ help set up. That's already more then we expected of you," Connie smiled at me. "You go do what you need to. Don't you worry about us, we've got plenty of help."

"Leaving so soon?" Caitlyn smirked.

"Uh, yeah. Got some stuff to do."

"Mmhmm," she nodded, making it clear she didn't believe it. "Mind if I tag along with you? I've got some of my own things to do and I think Jason's hanging out for a bit. He's my ride."

"I won't be going near your place, I've got to do some shopping and stuff."

"Oh perfect," she smiled widely. "So do I."

"Fine," I sighed. "Hey Mitchie! Caitlyn and me are heading out."

"Already?"

"Yeah. We've got somethings to do."

"Together?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. We're friends. We do things together."

"You're still helping me out tomorrow afternoon right man?" Shane asked.

"Yeah. I'll give you a call."

"Shane, you just said we were going to lunch tomorrow," Mitchie pouted.

"I know baby," Shane smiled. "We'll go shopping after lunch though. I've got the time to do both."

This was ridiculous really. I needed to get out of here.

"Yeah, whatever, just call me after your lunch then. You ready Cait?"

"Oh, sure thing Nate. Don't want to run out of time to do all those _important_ things."

Oh my goodness did she just _wink_ at me? Please tell me I'm imagining things. She could not have just winked at me.

"Uh, yeah," I said awkwardly. "See you guys later."

"So, what do you need to get?" Caitlyn asked once we're in my truck and safely driving down the road.

"Just some stuff."

"Let's just clear this up now, you know I don't believe you right?"

"I don't see why you wouldn't."

"It could be because I'm not an idiot," she suggested.

"I never said you were," I shrugged.

"That's besides the point," she said dismissively. "Deny that something's up all you want. I'll just believe what I see instead of what I hear."

"Yup, and what do you see?" I asked skeptically.

"The touches. The glances. The gestures. Take your pick."

"Best friends Caitlyn, best friends."

"And that's why you know exactly what I'm talking about with out even mentioning her?"

"No, I know what you're talking about because I'm not stupid either."

"Mmhmm."

"You're making something out of nothing."

"Right. And what was it you needed to do again? I was pretty sure we were all planning to stay at Mitchie's for far longer."

"It doesn't matter what I had to do. And you left too."

"Just to pester you," she smirked.

"You're wasting your time. You won't get the answers you want out of me."

"The answers are there though whether you tell me them or not."

"Whatever you say Caitlyn," I said turning up the radio, officially ending the discussion. For now at least.

I'm relieved when we finally get to the mall and can get out of such confined spaces with her. I might have been able to end the conversation, but she kept giving me all these glances that clearly said 'I know your secret'. It was unnerving. I love Caitlyn to death, but she's kind of freaky sometimes.

"Alright, go do your shopping and call me when you're done."

"What, you don't want to shop with me?" she said knowingly.

"I was thinking if we split up it'd be quicker," I explained.

"Well when you put it that way," she rolled her eyes. "Go ahead and avoid me. We've still got the car ride home."

I groaned as she walked away to go who knew where. I wondered how mad she'd be if I left her here. Yeah, not a risk I'm willing to take.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **This chapter is longer, but kind of random and seemingly irrelevant. I have a reason though I promise. So when you read it and think "What the heck?" be assured there is a point!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

The more I debated it the more I desperately wanted to leave Caitlyn at the mall. I wasn't sure I could handle the car ride home, especially because her house was farther then mine and that was even _more _time I was stuck with her. I mean, she could take a cab couldn't she? No, no, that'd be bad. I'd just give her more reason not to believe me. And then she'd get more suspicious, and more annoying. What's worse is I didn't even have to come to the stupid mall to begin with. And now if I don't buy something that'll be more proof I was lying. So now I have to buy stuff. I don't even know what to get. Maybe I'll buy a new CD so I can drown her out again. Yeah, that sounds good. And hey, well I'm here I could get a head start on Jason's birthday shopping too. His was only two months behind Mitchie's.

Three cds, one preordered personalized guitar strap and several autograph signings later –with more to go – Caitlyn was calling.

"Hello?" I answered after another short debate.

"Hey, where are you? I'm all done so I thought I could tag along now."

"I'm done too."

"I'm sure you are," she murmured. I chose to ignore it.

"Why don't you meet me by the guitar store then. I've just got a few more fans waiting for autographs."

"Oh good, I'm right by there. See you in a few."

I sighed and closed my phone. Great, more time with Caitlyn! Wohoo. I plastered a smile back on my face and turned to the surprisingly patient fans, taking my time to talk to them and sign more autographs. I mean hey, if I'm busy with fans Caitlyn can't bother me.

"Oh my goodness! I'm such a big fan!" the girl before me gushed.

"I'm glad to hear it," I smiled.

"You're my favorite you know," she nodded.

"Thanks, that means a lot," I smiled politely. If I keep responding she'll keep talking.

"It used to be Jason," she explained. "He's got some crazy guitar skills. But you… wow. I mean you can play the guitar, the drums, the piano, sing and who knows what else!"

I chuckled. "You don't like my dancing and flips?"

"Oh!" her eyes widened. "I love it! You're a great dancer! I didn't even think of that!"

I chuckled again as I took in the panicked look on her face. "No worries, I'm just teasing."

She squealed and turned to the girl next in line. "_Nate Thompson's _teasing with me! Gah! How awesome!"

"Eh," a voice behind me spoke up. "It gets old quick."

I rolled my eyes. "You were like this when I first met you Caitlyn."

"I did_ not _squeal when you teased me," she crossed her arms.

"Uh huh, sure. Can I get back to my fans please? Thanks." I turned back to the fan – who was completely fascinated by the conversation I'd just had with Caitlyn. "So, what can I sign for you?"

"Oh!" she said excitedly digging in to one of her shopping bags. "I just bought this shirt! It'd be perfect! I knew I got it for a reason!"

I chuckled, yet again, as I saw the shirt. It was one of the band shirts. "What's your name?"

"Angela," she smiled.

I smiled back and moved to the wall to hold the shirt up and sign it and even write a little message. _Angela, You're an amazing fan. Thanks for the support. I'll work on the dancing and the flips so they can top your list someday! ;P Love, Nate Thompson_

"Here you go Angela," I smiled handing the shirt back. "Enjoy that."

"Thanks so much! You're the best Nate! I love you!"

With a quick picture and hug the next girl in line was stepping up. I was pleased to see the line had gotten longer in the mean time. I never minded doing fan things and it just put more space between Caitlyn and me. It was when the line died down and the last fan was stepping up that I really regretted having Caitlyn here. She was a young girl, maybe eight and here with whom I assumed was an older brother who didn't look as thrilled to have waited in line as she did.

"Hi!" she said excitedly.

"Hello."

"My name's Lacey! This is my best big brother Teddy!" she said proudly.

"Theo," he interrupted, even though she ignored him.

"I just love Connect 3! You're my favorite band."

"It's nice to meet you Lacey," I squatted down to her level. "And what can I do for a pretty little thing like you today?"

She beamed at the compliment and turned to her brother.

"Do you have a camera?" she asked with big eyes.

"On my phone," he nodded. She turned back to me grinning.

"Can I get a picture with you and your girlfriend?"

My eyes widened in surprise and I started coughing as I inhaled wrong. I heard a snort and muffled laughs from behind me and turned to glare at Caitlyn.

"You can take a picture with me and her, but she's not my girlfriend Lacey," I explained when I stopped my coughing fit.

"Then why is she here with you?" she asked.

"She's a good friend of mine and the bands."

"Oh," she nodded wisely. "You should make her your girlfriend."

"Lacey!" Theo interrupted. "That's not polite."

"But Teddy-"

"No buts. We've been over this. Just because he's not one of your brothers doesn't mean it's any more polite."

She pouted and turned back to me.

"I'm sorry Nate."

"No problem," I smiled the best I could. "How about that picture and an autograph?"

When we finished with her and I gave a quick thank you to Theo I turned to Caitlyn.

"That was _not_ funny," I glared.

"It was from where I was standing," she quipped.

"Let's go," I muttered.

"So what'd you buy?" Caitlyn asked in – what I thought – was a childish manner when we got in the car.

"Ordered Jason's birthday present and grabbed some CDs."

"You had to leave the party early to grab some CDs?"

"Did you not hear the part about Jason's present Caitlyn?"

"I did, but found it pretty irrelevent. You and I both know you could've gotten it any other time."

"Wanna listen to my new CDs?" I asked, ignoring her comment. "Great! I'll put one in!"

When we got to Caitlyn's it took all my self control not to just open the door, shove her out and take off. Instead I got out, grabbed her things and headed to the door, forcing her to follow. She raised a questioning eyebrow at me as she opened the door and watched me bring her things inside.

"Planning on staying?"

"Nope, just helping with the bags."

"Because those two were so heavy. A terrible burden."

"It's the thought that counts."

"Right," she nodded, "the thought of rushing me out of the car."

I sighed. "Caitlyn, look, you're a good friend of mine, you know that. And any other time I'd be thrilled to be able to spend time with you, but-"

"But it's really hard to keep your secret when I'm asking questions all the time," she interrupted.

"No," I gritted out. "It's really _annoying_ to hang out with you when you keep insisting I _have_ a secret."

"Right, gotcha," she nodded, a disbelieving look on her face. "So I'll see you at Mitchie's birthday party then?"

"I'll be there."

"I'm sure."

"Good _bye _Caitlyn."

"Later Nate," she smiled and waved.

Why'd it have to be her to notice something? Why'd she even have to be smart enough to notice? She hung around Jason constantly, couldn't some of his obliviousness have rubbed off on her? That'd be much more helpful.

* * *

**A/N: **I just joined the staff of a Nitchie community the other day. It's called ~Nitchie Love~ Check it out if you're looking for some good Nitchie stories. A lot of my favorites are already there and we're adding more as we come across them!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any character or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

"Why are you making this so difficult Nate?" Shane grumbled.

"Difficult? Shane, I've pointed out five things at _least_ that she'd love. It's not _my_ fault you're not buying any of them."

"Those gifts are so lame though," he whined.

This had been going on pretty much since the moment we'd started shopping. I've found so many things she's either pointed out or I just know she'd love and he refused to buy any of them. You'd think that if he were going to ask me for help he'd take my advice right? Well if you think that you don't know Shane very well.

"Shane," I sighed. "It doesn't matter how lame you think it is. This is what _Mitchie_ will want. We're not looking for what _you'd_ want, but what _she'd_ want. Get it? It's her birthday, not yours."

"Can't you pick out something cooler she'd want?"

"Can't you?" I retorted. "She's your girlfriend. Why do you even need my help?"

"I told you, you're the best at picking out presents."

"I've picked them you just won't buy them."

"Whatever, look let's go check out some jewelry or something. Maybe I can get her a new bracelet."

"Why a bracelet? Why not some earrings or something? You know how she loves those."

"Because, she broke her bracelet, she needs a new one anyway."

"A birthday is not just an occasion to replace something. It's to give someone something new."

"So it'll be a different bracelet," he shrugged. "Then I can get her matching earrings or something like you said."

"Sure," I muttered. "Why not? Let's go."

He would want to get her a bracelet, because I already got her one. At least mine will be better, no doubt about it. It's the beauty of personalized gifts.

After what seemed like an endless amount of time looking Shane finally decided on a silver cuff bracelet with black onyx gemstones set on it and the matching silver and black earrings. I had to give Shane credit, he knew she preferred silver over gold. I thought that was a detail he'd over look.

"You should have stayed yesterday," Shane said as he browsed the jewelry.

"I had some things to do," I shrugged, hoping to sound indifferent.

"I'm just saying, it turned into a good time."

"Well I'll try not to miss it next time," I replied dryly.

"So," he turned to me and cocked an eyebrow. "What was with Caitlyn going with you?"

"She had things to do."

"Oh, so you both had things to do."

"Yeah Shane, that's what I said." Come on, was it really that big of a deal we left together?

"I see, and what kind of _things_ did you end up doing?" he asked, his tone clearly suggesting he thought things that _weren't_ happening were.

"Oh come on Shane!" I snapped. "Caitlyn and me? Really?"

"I'm just saying," he raised his hands innocently.

"You're never just saying when she takes off with Jason for a day! And they do that far more then me and her."

"That's because Caitlyn and you are perfect together."

"Just because you think that doesn't mean it's true," I said bitterly.

"I'm not the only one who thinks it," he smirked.

"Just drop it Shane."

"I was just saying man. You need to get a girlfriend anyway. When's the last time you've been on a date? Seriously?"

"Right, I'm going home. I'll see you later."

"Oh come on!" he called to my back. "I'm just messing around! Come back!"

"See you," I called over my shoulder on the way out the nearest door.

When I finally made it home I pulled out my phone to call Mitchie, hoping to get some actual, non-accusing conversation in today.

"Hey Mitch," I sighed when she finally answered.

"Hey Nate," she sounded a bit off, maybe mad. I guessed it had to do with me leaving yesterday.

"Sorry I left the party early. I had, ya know, some stuff to do."

"Right. And Caitlyn did too." Oh, so that's what was wrong.

"Yeah, she asked if she could come with me. I didn't really have an excuse to tell her no…so…"

"I get it. It's cool," she brushed it off. "We're all friends Nate. Oh, hey!" she said suddenly. "Guess what?"

"What?" I asked unsure.

"We were at lunch today – you know, Shane and me? – and this girl came up and was all 'Oh my goodness! You're Shane Gray! I hate to bug you, but can you sign my shirt? Nate signed it yesterday and he even left a message see? He was at the mall with some girl, I think it was his girlfriend. Was she his girlfriend? Does he have a girlfriend? She teased him like she was his girlfriend. Oh! That's not my point though! It would just be so cool if you signed my shirt too though.'"

I chuckled lightly. "Was her name Angela?"

"What's that matter?" she snapped. "She thinks Caitlyn's your girlfriend!"

"It matters cause she was cool!" I defended. "And you know as well as I do that Caitlyn's not my girlfriend. While we're on the subject of her though…"

"What?" she asked, sounding almost like she feared the answer.

"She spent any chance she had yesterday saying I – _we_ – had a secret and insisting I tell her."

"You told her?" she screeched.

"Calm down Mitch! Of course not. Do you think I'm an idiot? I'm just saying, she's on to us."

"This is just great Nate," she snapped. "Really perfect."

"Hey, it's not my fault! You don't have to blame me!"

"You should have taken care of it yesterday! Now she's going to be watching us like a hawk."

"You're not the one who had to sit through her questioning! There was no taking care of it. Anything I said she twisted around and made it sound how she wanted it to."

"Say better answers next time," she gritted out.

"Are you seriously blaming me for this?" I asked outraged.

"For not dealing with it, yes."

"You know what Mitchie, you sit in the car alone with a suspicious Caitlyn and tell me how far you get. Because it's not an easy thing to do!"

"Oh please. You're just a terrible liar."

"I gotta go Mitchie," I said when I felt my temper getting out of control. "I'll see you at your party in a few days. Bye."

"Wait!" she called in to the phone. I paused but didn't speak. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you."

I sighed. "I'll talk to you later Mitch."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too."

Once I hung up the phone I fell back on to the couch and groaned.

**

* * *

**

**A/N:** This is one of those fics I kind of make up as I go. All my others I know how I want to end, but this one... yeah I just kind of wing it. All I know is I love Nitchie and needed some written because not enough people write it. (Yeah, that's your hint to write some people! Let me know if you do!)


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Sorry for the delay, I'm trying to rotate updates for all five of my in-progress stories and not favor any of them. Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing this, and for the favorites and alerts. You're some awesome people.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

It's official, I think Caitlyn's out to drive me in to a mad house. She showed up at my house bright and early this morning. Apparently bugging me yesterday wasn't enough for her.

"Hey Nate!" she greeted cheerily as I opened the door.

"Hi Caitlyn," I sighed.

"Whatcha doing?" There was that childish tone of voice again.

"Nothing," I answered wearily.

"Perfect!" she smiled back, inviting herself in and shutting the door behind her. "Let's finalize plans for Mitchie's party."

That was two hours ago. And she's still here, currently helping herself to whatever snacks she can come across in the kitchen while I frantically call for help. Finalizing party plans only took half an hour. Everything was decided already. For the next hour and a half she'd flitted around my house, pointing out any Mitchie related thing she could find and acting like she had never seen them before. ("Oh wow! Is that another picture of you and Mitchie? You sure have a lot!") Of course, she's over all the time and she's seen each and every one of those things. And she conveniently didn't notice all the non-Mitchie related things. Granted, there might be a bit more of Mitchie then anyone else, I have pictures and reminders of all my friends throughout the house.

"Mitchie!" I whispered in to the phone as soon as she answered. "You have to help me!"

"Nate?" she asked concerned. "What's wrong?"

"She's here! And she's doing it again and I can't handle it!"

"Wait, who? Caitlyn?"

"Yes!"

"Why is she over?"

"She showed up two hours ago, intent on bugging me and hasn't left yet. And I don't think she plans to anytime soon either!"

Mitchie sighed. "Alright. I'll call her and see if she wants to do something."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I grinned. "Shit! She's coming! I gotta go!"

"Bye Nate."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and quickly shoved it in my pocket, not wanting to get caught on it and raise even more questions.

"You really need to get to the grocery store Nate. There's nothing good to snack on here."

"I'll get right on it," I rolled my eyes. "I'm not a busy guy or anything."

"You had nothing going on today," she pointed out.

"And then you showed up."

"Well, let's go shopping now then!" she smiled. "I can help pick out the good stuff too."

Oh no! Not more time alone in the car with Caitlyn! I can't handle that. At least I can escape her in my own house! Luckily her phone rang. Thank you Mitchie!

"Oh. Hold on," she said pulling it out of her pocket. "Hello? Oh hey Mitch, what's up? No, I'm busy right now. Nate and me are going to go grocery shopping, his house is full of crappy food." She laughed at whatever Mitchie said. "I know, it's like his taste buds are dysfunctional. Why don't you head over here and we can all go together? Great, see you soon!"

I watched her hang up the phone and smile at me.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Mitchie's going to come shopping with us! Aren't you just so excited now? You get to spend time with not just me but her too!"

"I'm overjoyed," I deadpanned.

"I know you are," she smiled cheekily at me before taking off to the kitchen again. "Let's make a list!"

I groaned and followed her. At least I wouldn't be alone with her all day. This shouldn't be too bad.

* * *

I was wrong. I was dead wrong. This could be too bad. It could be terrible. Once Mitchie finally showed up Caitlyn insisted on driving. I should have known better. The little devil took the faceplate off her stereo, leaving us with no choice but to talk or sit in silence. And since Caitlyn wasn't one for silence we were basically trapped with her. The ride there wasn't bad; she just prattled on with Mitchie while I stared out the back window. It was the ride home that was bad. We'd finished our shopping – I don't think I've ever bought so much junk food in one trip before – and were headed back to my house when Caitlyn took a wrong turn.

"Caity, my house is that way."

"I know," she smirked. "We're taking the long way."

"The ice cream will melt though," Mitchie frowned.

"It's okay. We didn't get a lot."

"Caitlyn, why are we going the long way?" I asked, afraid of her answer.

A wide grin spread across her face. "I've got you both here now, and I want some answers."

* * *

**A/N: **I'm really having a blast writing Caitlyn in this and her interactions with Nate. And the next chapter should be fun too.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **I'm sorry for the crazy long wait. I've been writing a few Christmas fics for one of my good friends on here and then there was all the preparing for the Holidays and all that good stuff. But hey, at least I'm updating out of order and you are getting this. I'm long over due to update 'YGaF' and 'IDBM'.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

"Caitlyn," I spoke calmly as I could.

"Yes, Nate?" she smiled at me in the rear-view mirror. "Was there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Yeah," I glared back. "Take me home."

"Sorry Nate. Until you and Mitchie fess up I'm going farther and farther from your house."

"What could you possibly want us to fess up to?" Mitchie asked like she didn't know.

"About your relationship of course. You knew that though Mitch. There's really no point in acting like you didn't."

The tone of her voice was driving me insane. She was acting super cheery. It kind of made me want to tell her, her puppy died or something, just to upset her. That'd be mean though. Besides, she doesn't have a puppy. Hmm, I should buy her one for her birthday.

"What about our relationship?" Mitchie asked with her eyes drawn together in confusion.

"What's going on with it."

"Not much," Mitchie shrugged. "You know, the usual."

Caitlyn laughed and shook her head. "You guys make this so fun, did you know that?"

"Really? Cause you make this really obnoxious," I replied. "I told you yesterday and all morning that there wasn't anything to tell you. Why won't you just listen to me?"

"Remember the whole "I'm not an idiot" thing?" she smirked.

"What will it take for you to just shut up about it?"

"Admit it."

"There's nothing to admit to!"

"Well I don't believe that. Tell me Mitch, how long has this been going on?" Caitlyn turned to her, choosing to ignore me "I mean, I only just noitced yesterday, but when I think back, you've been pretty close for a long time."

"Caitlyn, Nate and me are best friends," Mitchie explained slowly. "Just like you and me. And just like he and you are. We're going to be close."

Well, Mitchie's sure handling this better than I was. Of course, Caitlyn just threw this at me randomly yesterday and I gave Mitchie warning last night.

"Yeah, but it's different with you two," Caitlyn pointed out. She sighed and for a second I thought she was giving up. How foolish of me. "Look Mitchie. You should know me well enough to know I'm not giving up until I get answers. You could just tell me them and this would all be over."

"What do you want me to tell you?" Mitchie asked annoyed, crossing her arms. "That I'm cheating on Shane? That I'm really madly in love with Nate? That we have some secret relationship?"

"Yes," she nodded simply.

"Caitlyn! Do you really think I'd cheat on anyone, let alone Shane?"

"No, I never thought you would. I didn't think you were that type of girl. And I still don't. It's not like I think you're running around sharing beds with random men." I glared up at Caitlyn but she seemed to be concentrating solely on Mitchie. "It's just, look, I don't think you'd ever cheat on Shane… physically."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Did you know it's just as wrong and just as hurtful to cheat on someone emotionally?"

"What?" Mitchie asked confused.

Caitlyn sighed. "How do you think Shane would feel if you ever slept with another guy?"

"I haven't!" she defended.

"I know Mitch, but just answer. If you did, how do you think he'd take it?"

"Not well," Mitchie mumbled. "He'd be pissed. And he'd be really upset."

"Right," Caitlyn nodded. "And if you fell in love with someone else, say, a friend of his, how do you think he'd take that news?"

"Just was bad," Mitchie sighed.

"Okay. So now, say you slept with this other guy over and over, for months and months. Do you think he'd take that better or worse?"

"Worse."

"And say you loved this somebody else, this friend of his, for months and months. Would that be better or worse when he found out?"

"Worse," Mitchie answered quietly.

"Now is there anything you'd like to fess up to?"

Mitchie looked back to me and I knew what she was going to say before she even opened her mouth or would give me a chance to stop her. "Yes."

"Progress," Caitlyn sighed. "So, what exactly is up between you two?"

I glared up at them both, alternating between glaring at Caitlyn for being Caitlyn and Mitchie for spilling all this. I tried to ignore them and concentrate on the drive home – since we were finally headed back to my house – as Mitchie went on and on about how she hadn't meant for it to happen, but things change and it was out of her control and blah, blah, blah. It wasn't until I heard a certain question from Caitlyn that I stopped glaring and my ears perked up.

"So when are you going to break up with Shane?"

That was something I definitely wanted to know. I've only been waiting and waiting. The only answer I ever get is soon. Hopefully Caitlyn can get something else out of her.

"I don't know," Mitchie sighed.

"You are going to aren't you?" Caitlyn raised an eyebrow. I saw Mitchie hesitate a few seconds before nodding. "So what are you waiting for then? The longer you draw it out the worse it'll be."

"Everytime I think I'm going to do it he starts acting all sweet and makes it impossible!" she complained. "It's like he knows it's coming so he shapes up his act."

"You can't put it off forever, no matter how sweet he's being," Caitlyn told her bluntly. "You either break up with him soon or I'll make sure it happens." She paused, considering something. "Unless you really just don't want to break up with him."

"Of course I want to. I want to be with Nate so badly," Mitchie smiled, turning to lock eyes with me. "I've just never been the kind of girl to dump a guy, you know? I never want to hurt anyone's feelings. And Nate's willing to wait until I'm ready."

"It's not Nate I'm concerned about," Caitlyn responded, finally pulling on to my street.

"You won't tell Shane about this will you Caitlyn?" Mitchie asked, her eyes begging with Caitlyn to keep our secret.

Caitlyn pulled in my driveway and shut off the car before turning to be able to face the both of us. "If you guys don't sort this out in the near future, I will be getting involved."

* * *

**A/N: **I think now's the time to tell you this is, in fact, based off real life events. I'm just proud to say I'm not the Mitchie or the Nate in it. I'm the (less devious and less scheming) Caitlyn. So this conversation (the end of it) is very much something I've had.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **This chapter is definitely different. There isn't all that much dialogue (so it looks shorter, but the word count is relatively the same), but I felt it was time you knew what was going through Nate's head about this all. I'm not trying to make you guys dislike Shane or Nate, so I hope you don't.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

Mitchie's birthday came up a lot faster then we all expected and before we knew it I was one of the ones rushing around at the last minute making sure everything was all set up. Basically it was Caitlyn and me running around like chickens with our heads cut off as Shane got himself ready and Jason kept Mitchie away until we wanted her to be there. It wasn't a surprise party, she knew all about it, but the party planners had set up a pretty elaborate sight.

The only positive about this all was that Caitlyn couldn't bother me because we were both so busy. And oh yeah, she was bothering me, even though she knew our secret now. It was either the piercing "Did you tell him yet?" or the taunting "And you tried to tell me nothing was going on! I knew it! I knew it!" Mitchie and me had just about had enough of it all. And of course we didn't tell him yet! What does she want us to do? Just blurt it out? This takes some planning. Mitchie has been trying to figure out the right way to tell him, to word it. She's hoping to tell him in a way that won't make him hate the both of us, but I know it's a lost cause. He's going to be pissed either way. I'm his best friend and I betrayed him, he has every right to want to hate me. If I were him I'd want to throw me off a cliff.

I hate myself even, but I love her. And I can't just pretend that I don't. And as useless as I know it is, I hope he won't be angry with her. I wish he'd just put all the blame on me. He can scream at me, hit me, anything he wants as long as he won't scream at her. I know he will though. Actually, it's a toss up between him screaming his anger out at the both of us or him being an emotional sap with her and an angry mad man with me. I'm pretty sure he's not even in love with her like I am anymore, but it's going to hurt all the same for this to happen. He's being betrayed by two of the people that he should trust most in his life. He should never have to doubt me, but now he always will. And I'm regretful about it, but the only consolation I have is that this relationship has been purely emotional. I haven't even kissed her, other then on the cheek or forehead. I think that'll comfort him a bit but not enough to really ease the blow. Because when it comes down to it Mitchie's going to have to look him in the eye and say "I don't love you Shane, and I haven't for a while. I love Nate. And we want to be together." And I won't even want to look at him because I know the emotions that'll pass across his face will kill me. I will though, because I deserve whatever he gives me for how I've wronged him. And I'll take it with out complaint. It's the least I can do.

"You know Nate," Caitlyn's voice broke into my thoughts. "It'd be a hell of a lot easier to set up this damn table properly if someone would help me. I know I'm a pretty strong girl, but this table's nearly three times my size!"

"Sorry Cait," I winced at the anger in her voice and moved to grab the other side of the table. "I was just thinking about something. Where do you want the table?"

"Gee, maybe the empty spot under the sign that says 'Present Table'. I mean, call me crazy, but I think a table should go there. Or the sign would be terribly misleading."

"What would we do without your sarcasm Caitlyn," I shook my head at her.

"What thoughts are you so wrapped up in anyway?" she asked. "Upset Shane's going to be glued to Mitchie's hip all night?"

"No," I frowned, setting the table in position. I hadn't even thought of that possibility. "Besides, Shane's going to have too many people here to mingle with to stay at her side."

"Mmhmm," she raised an eyebrow as she sets various picture collages up along the table. "So what are you thinking about then?"

"You do know that I'm not entitled to share all my thoughts with you don't you?" I asked, only half-jokingly.

"I could just guess if you'd like," she smirked. "And you know how good of a guesser I am."

"Oh boy! Look at the time," I said glancing at my watch. "Better go make sure everything's set up! Only half an hour to go."

"I love when you play the avoiding game," she grinned happily to my retreating back. "I'll see you later Nate!"

----

The party was pretty much in full swing about an hour in to it. All the expected guests had arrived. We had invited a lot of our celebrity friends that Mitchie had met over the past few years and all her friends and very close relatives. Everybody was having a good time. All that was missing was Mitchie and Jason.

I've called her cell about five times now and she hasn't answered. I've called Jason's cell about seven times now and he hasn't answered. I've sent Shane and Caitlyn around to mingle and answer all the "Where's the birthday girl" questions. I've got the party planner frantically trying to stall everything that can't be done until Mitchie is actually here. And I've got the caterers saving the best snacks until she gets here. I'm not happy. Where is she? And what are they doing? This is not the way this party was supposed to be going! I had told Jason time and time again that she had to be here by seven. It was now just after eight.

"What's the news Nate?" Shane asked coming up beside me.

"I can't get a hold of either of them!" I said, clearly stressed.

"This is ridiculous!" he said, throwing his hands in the air. "We've put a lot of damn work in to this party. And Jason's been bouncing around all week waiting to be able to come here. Why wouldn't they be here?"

"I don't know Shane," I shook my head. "They probably have a good reason though."

"This is Jason we're talking about," he scoffed. "He's probably out doing something stupid."

"Mitchie's with him though. And if she's not here for her own party that she knows we put a ton of work into, there _will _be a good reason." I nodded along with my statement, not sure if I was trying to reassure him or myself.

* * *

**A/N:**Ooh, Jason and Mitchie went missing together! Where could they be? Haha. No worries, it's nothing terrible. I'll update again soon. I have a sudden passion for this story. Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** So this is definitely a longer chapter, my longest yet for this story.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

"I'm sure everything's fine," Em assured me. "Maybe they just lost track of time."

"It's not like they're half an hour late Emily! It's been over an hour!"

"Calm down Nate," she said placing a hand on my shoulder. "If anything was wrong we'd know. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for what happened."

"Yeah, I'm sure," I muttered, putting on a fake grin. "Go have fun Em."

"Not unless you do too. Come dance with me, just once?"

I shook my head. "I've got some things to do still."

"Come on Nate," she pouted. "For your baby sister?"

"I'll save you one later. I promise."

She nodded reluctantly before walking away, turning to throw a "She's fine!" back at me.

People thought I could go have fun right now? Caitlyn, Shane and me were all going insane. The three of us can barley even talk to each other with out it becoming a mess. And of course, it's different for each one of us so the few conversations we did partake in have not been pretty. Especially with Caitlyn's sarcasm tossed in the mix and Shane blaming it all on Jason.

It was another half an hour before I could even get Jason on his cell phone. And when I asked him where he was he responded with a curt "We'll be there soon." What the hell is that about? I delivered the news to all necessary parties and moved to the doors, pacing back and forth, waiting for them to show up. And when they finally did show up I was even less happy.

I don't know what they were doing, or what happened, but Mitchie looked a mess. Her eyes were puffy and she had very obviously been crying. Her hair looked like someone had been repeatedly running a hand through it and as a result she'd tossed her hair up in some up-do. What got to me the most though was the way she clung to Jason's arm, like letting go would be the end of her world and she'd just collapse right there. I really didn't know what to make of it all. I was torn between being worried about what had her crying and jealously wanting to rip Jason's arm off for her death grip on it. If she had to cling to anyone for support it should be me.

"Where the hell have you been?" Shane's annoyed voice came from one side of me, followed almost immediately by Caitlyn's. "You might not know this, but when it's your own party, it's probably better to show up on time instead of making your friends work their asses off to stall everything they put into this party."

"I'm sorry," Mitchie said quietly. "We got… caught up."

The tone in her voice did it for me, screw the jealousy I was just all out worried. I wanted so badly to just reach forward and pull her into my arms. "Mitch, are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine," she nodded. I stared at her for a minute before she spoke again. "Really, don't worry about it."

"Well something must have happened," Shane pushed. "You look like a mess."

Caitlyn groaned and hit Shane's arm, muttering. "Smooth Shane." She put on an apologetic look and turned to Mitchie. "Sorry to say it Mitch, but you could probably use a bit of a fix up. Let's go to the bathroom and see what we can do."

After Caitlyn pulled her away I turned back to Jason and Shane. Clearly Mitchie was not okay, but she wasn't going to be talking about it anytime soon.

"What the hell happened Jase?" Shane asked.

Jason took his time to respond and he spoke slowly, obviously choosing his words carefully. "We just had a bit of a… dilemma to take care of."

My heart stopped when Jason looked to me, his usually carefree eyes looking very seriously into mine. She told him. He knew. She was going around blabbing to everyone now. And Jason was not happy with me. And I don't blame him. I silently begged him not to mention anything to Shane.

"Well this party is half over," Shane rolled his eyes. "Thanks a ton for getting her here when we asked you to. I'll let people know she's arrived."

We both watched him walk off before turning to face each other. I didn't know what to say, but apparently it didn't matter. Jason had just the right words.

"I never thought I'd be disappointed in you Nate, but until Shane knows, I will be."

Those words nearly killed me. _Jason_ was disappointed in me. He's never been disappointed in me. We needed to tell Shane. I never even thought about what Jason would think. I had been so concerned with what Shane's reaction would be when he found out that I didn't even think of anyone else's.

"Jason," I started only to pause and think about what I wanted to say. "We're just trying to figure out how to tell him. We will, soon, I promise. I'll talk to her about it as soon as I can." I paused again before adding much quieter, "And I'm sorry."

He sighed and shook his head. "Just tell him. I don't want to have to keep this from him. I promised Mitchie I wouldn't tell him for now, but if you guys don't, I might be forced to."

"It'll be taken care of soon. I promise."

* * *

After that whole dilemma was taken care of and Mitchie and Caitlyn had reemerged from the bathrooms looking much better the party could finally be underway properly. We went right into singing and cake and all the planned things we'd been stalling. We did a few fun things and then Mitchie made her way around the room, mingling with her guests before they started to leave and apologizing for her tardiness. Once I was sure everything was okay I set off to find my sister.

"How about that dance?" I asked her holding my hand out to her.

"I thought you'd never ask," she laughed. I brought her towards where the DJ was and requested a slower song. We waited for a minute until the songs switched over and I lead her towards the center of the dance floor. We danced in silence for a few moments before she looked up at me. "I told you she'd be fine."

"Did you see her when she got here?" I snorted. "She wasn't fine. She looked like she just had a breakdown." As an after thought I added. "And probably did."

"She wasn't hurt though. That's a good thing right?"

I shrugged. "She might not have been _hurt_ hurt, but she's not in the best emotional state."

"She looks fine now," she pointed out. I turned and followed her gaze over to Mitchie. She was talking with a group of people and laughing.

"Yeah she does."

"Aren't you glad she's at least having a good time now then?"

I nodded. I was still looking over at Mitchie when she looked up and caught my gaze. She excused herself from her friends and worked her way over to us.

"Can I steal your brother Em?"

"It's your party, you can do what you want to."

Mitchie laughed, recognizing the play on words from one of her favorite old songs,_ It's My Party_. She had gotten Em hooked on the song herself and it became a little joke between the two of them to quote it whenever they could. Most people wouldn't understand the references.

I set my hands on Mitchie's waist as her arms went around my neck. She smiled up to me uncomfortably. I knew she was afraid I was angry with her. And I was really. I didn't want anyone else – or anyone at all – to know and she's now told two people.

"Having a good time?" I asked.

"Yes. Thank you for helping put this all together." She looked down briefly before looking up to meet my eyes. "I'm sorry I was so late."

I nodded. I knew she was sorry. "Are you okay? You were pretty upset when you got here."

"Yes, but Nate," she whispered. "I told Jason. I'm so sorry. We were sitting around talking and he was asking about Shane in that innocent way he has and I just snapped. The next thing I knew tears were falling down my face and I was telling him everything." She sniffled a bit, clearly trying not to cry again. I gave her a small smile, willing her not to cry.

"It's okay Mitchie. It's nothing to cry over. We'll be out of this all soon. And don't you feel a little better that they know now?" I asked. "At least this way you can talk to someone about it."

"Do you feel better that they know?" she sniffled again.

I thought about it for a second. I really didn't. Jason was disappointed in me and Caitlyn was constantly on my case about it. Should I tell her that though? Or should I pretend I'm okay with it?

"Honestly?" I asked. She nodded. "I'm really not okay with it right now. I mean, they were going to find out sooner or later. I just, I wish it wasn't right now. I'm not mad that you told them," I said quickly as I saw her eyes start to water more. "I'm just, well, I guess I'm mad at myself."

She looked up at me questioningly and I stopped, thinking on how I would explain this with out making her upset. I'm not really sure there was a way. I lead her off the dance floor and down the first hallway we passed, going a good distance down it before stopping and turning to face her again.

"I love you Mitchie. So much. And I hate myself for it, but I don't regret it. I love you and I shouldn't. I should never have betrayed my best friend's trust. I should never have given Jason reason to be disappointed in me. And I know I deserve all the guilt they make me feel. But I still can't bring myself to regret it. And that frustrates the hell out of me."

"What's that got to do with me telling Jason?"

"Not much," I said after thinking it over. "The guilt's been here all along. I guess it's just intensified because of it all. So it just makes me feel worse about this."

She nodded. I thought of the threats both Caitlyn and Jason made to get involved if we didn't deal with this soon. A part of me just wished they would. I would much rather them tell Shane then me and Mitchie have to.

"You know we have to tell him soon right? Jason and Caitlyn will both do it if we don't."

"Is that so bad?" she asked jokingly, but I could tell she kind of meant it.

"Mitch, I'd never forgive myself if he found out from some one other then us. And you wouldn't either."

"I know," she nodded. "I'm just scared."

"We're in this together Mitchie," I hugged her. "I'll be right there with you through it all. I won't let you face him alone."

* * *

**A/N:** Alright. I think we're coming up to the confrontational chapter soon. It's possibly only a few away. How exciting. Thanks for reading, review if you'd like.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** With the recent chapters kind of being downers for him I've decided Nate could use some fun.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

The last of the party guests just left and I couldn't be more relieved as I sank in to a chair by the door. Between my worrying for Mitchie earlier and me mentally freaking out over Jason now knowing I couldn't bring myself to have any fun anymore. There were too many people. This I could handle. Now it was just Mitchie, Caitlyn, Jason and Shane. That was a steady group. Of course, it'd be better if Shane weren't here, but that's just because I really don't want to have to worry about him finding out yet. I'm not sure I can handle being in a room with him and him being the only one not to know.

"Rough night?" Caitlyn asked, sitting next to me.

I nodded. And we sat in silence, watching a laughing Mitchie chase Jason around the room, trying to get her cell phone back from him.

"You know what I think?" Caitlyn said suddenly.

"No, but I bet you're going to tell me."

"You know me so well Natey," she smirked. "It's good though. I promise."

"Then do tell," I rolled my eyes. She thinks anything she has to say is good.

"You need to have some fun. Go do something _enjoyable_."

"And what do you propose I do?" I raised an eyebrow. "We're all supposed to help with her presents remember?"

"Do you really think she needs all of us?"

"She said she needed help," I shrugged.

"I'll tell you how this is going to go," Caitlyn shook her head. "She'll want to open them all by herself as part of a birthday tradition and one of us will have to sit there with a notebook and pen and keep track of everything each person got her so she can sent out those thank you cards like last year."

"Your point?"

"She only needs one person to help her. And Shane can do it."

"She said she needed us all."

"She doesn't," Caitlyn shook her head again. "I say she needs one of us, Shane. And me, you and Jason should high tale it out of here and do something fun."

"I don't know," I said slowly. "I don't want her to be mad at me."

"She'll understand trust me. So we're going. I'll tell Jason."

She got up and walked away before I could protest again. I didn't want to leave Mitchie on her birthday and I didn't want to leave Mitchie and Shane alone either, but – as much as I hate to admit it – Caitlyn was right. I could use something fun to get my mind off of everything. So when she came back with Jason and Mitchie both in tow and explained we were going out to do something I ignored Mitchie's frown and concentrated on Jason's excited face instead. We said our goodbyes and I only allowed myself to look back once on our way out. One look at Mitchie's face almost had me turning around and running right back to her, but thankfully Caitlyn caught sight of my face and tugged on my arm, dragging me out to Jason's car.

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked once we were in the car, driving away.

"I don't know," Jason shrugged, a smile on his face.

"We usually just drive until we pass something that looks fun," Caitlyn explained.

"Right," I nodded. This was going to be interesting.

It was ten minutes later, accompanied by Jason and Caitlyn chattering away, that they passed something of interest.

"Oh!" Caitlyn said. She sounded so excited I thought she just might start clapping her hands. "Jason! Look! Isn't this where Peggy and Ella said they were going?"

"Oh yeah," Jason grinned, pulling in to a parking lot.

"What?" I asked, sitting up. "Where are we?"

"You'll see."

I rolled my eyes but got out of the car regardless, trailing behind them as they set off in search of Peggy and Ella. I looked around the place. On one side there was a bar, that was always a good thing. Opposite that was a stage with a few microphones set upon it and a TV near by. I shrugged it off at first until a guy made his way up to one of the mics and music started. I groaned as I realized where they'd brought me. This was a karaoke bar.

"Caitlyn! Jason! You came!" Peggy called over the music.

"And you brought Nate too," Ella smiled. "There's a surprise."

"He needs to have some fun," Caitlyn explained. "He's been having a rough week."

"What better place to have fun then here?" Peggy laughed.

I could think of a few places, but I wasn't going to ruin their fun.

"We're happy to have you here Nate."

"You'll have to sing though," Ella informed me.

"Oh no, no way," I shook my head.

"It's our rule," she nodded. "You walk through that door to join us you sing."

"Oops, did I forget to mention that?" Caitlyn asked sweetly. I sent her a glare before turning back to Ella.

"One song."

"Perfect!" she clapped. "This is going to be great."

"And don't worry about fans," Peggy said placing a hand on my shoulder. "We come here a lot. They won't be bad."

We sat and talked while we watched a few people perform before Peggy turned to me and smiled. "You're up after this one."

"Can my song be a duet?" I asked, desperate for the attention not to be solely on me tonight.

"I guess," she shrugged. "Who do you want to sing with?"

I thought it over quickly. I sing with Jason all the time. We did that one song with Peggy before. Caitlyn was just a no. So that left Ella. I've never sung with her before, but I've heard her and she's pretty good. Ella it is.

"How about you Ella?" I asked. She looked surprised, blinking a few times before smiling and nodding.

* * *

**A/N:** And since I like to keep the chapter's short for this story that's where I'm ending this chapter (plus it's 1:57 in the morning and I've got to be up early). The next one will pick right up at the same spot though. I just know if I keep typing this'll get too long. I'll update again soon; I've got a boring day ahead of me tomorrow (today?).


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much. I also don't own any songs or movies that are mentioned in this chapter.

* * *

"Ooh! Let's sing a love song!" Ella said excitedly. I knew she was just a sucker for a good love song and that there wasn't too much more of an option for a male female duet in that book, but I couldn't ignore the fact it'd be really odd to sing a love duet with _Ella_. I like Ella just fine, but come on. Unfortunately, I had no better suggestions.

"Whatever you want," I sighed. "I don't even want to be up here."

"Well Caitlyn said you needed to have some fun, so…" she flipped through a couple pages before turning to the guy in charge of the Cd's and pointing one out to him. "It's perfect."

"What is it?" I asked, trying to look over her shoulder.

"You'll see," she smiled, closing the book. "Just trust me. It'll be fun if you let it be."

I frowned a bit but nodded. Anything could be fun if you let it be. So I'd do my best to make it fun. The music stopped and the girl on stage came over and handed the microphone to Ella.

"Good luck," she grinned. Ella laughed and thanked her, complimenting her on her song, before dragging me up on stage.

The words came on the screen before any music started and I only just held back the groan as I realized what she'd picked. Then I felt like smacking myself in the head for even being able to recognize it. Remembering I wanted to keep this fun I started up.

"Love is a many splendor thing," I spoke passionately. "Love _lifts_ us up where we belong. All you need it love."

"Don't start that again," Ella scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"All you need is love," I sang.

"A girl has got to eat," she shook her head.

"All you need is love," I sang again.

"She'll end up on the street!"

"All you need is love," I sang a third time, holding out the word love.

"Love is just a game," she nearly whispered, shaking her head.

"I was made for loving you baby! You were made for loving me!" I grinned and danced around the stage, following Ella as she walked away from me, playing her role.

She scoffed again, looking over her shoulder at me. "The only way of loving me baby is to pay a lovely fee."

The song went on as I pleaded with her, trying to make her cave in to my love, well, my fake love. We played the parts perfectly from the movie and the crowd loved it. The song changed from a slower tune and back as she slowly started to come around.

"I can't help loving you," we sang together.

"How wonderful life is," she started softly before I joined her, "now that you're in the world."

We were facing each other, panting a bit from all the moving and shout-singing the song required. The audience cheered as Ella and I burst into laughter, climbing off the stage and handing our mics over to the next person. I pulled her in to a hug once we were out of everyone's way.

"That was fun. Thanks Ella, I really needed that."

"That's what friends are for," she smiled up at me as I released her.

The rest of the night was great. Jason and Caitlyn sang a hilarious rendition of 'Summer Lovin' from Grease followed immediately by The B52's 'Love Shack'. Peggy owned the stage as she sang the well-known 'I Will Survive'. It took quite a few drinks, but I ended up back on stage alone singing 'Superstition'. And – in a move that had Jason and me cracking up – Caitlyn, Peggy and Ella sang one of our own songs, 'That's Just the Way We Roll'. During which they made sure to pick on Shane or us any chance they had. It was awesome. I couldn't even remember the last time I'd had this much fun out. Unfortunately the night had to come to an end and Jason was dropping me off a lot sooner then I would have liked.

"Give me a call next time you guys are going out," I grinned at Jason and Caitlyn through the window of his car. "I had a blast."

"You got it Nate," Jason nodded. With quick goodbyes I was on my way inside and headed for the kitchen – I was starved. I blindly dropped my jacket on the armchair in my living room as I passed by it. I was thankful to Caitlyn for making me go shopping two days ago. I had a ton of junk food to snack on. I started pulling random bags and boxes out of the cupboards, putting anything that looked appealing on the counter. It wasn't until she spoke that I realized I wasn't alone in my house.

"Did you have fun tonight?" I turned at the sound of her voice and blinked. Did I have more to drink then I thought? I mean, I knew I had a nice buzz going on, but I wan't imagining things right? Mitchie was standing in my kitchen when she should be either back home or with Shane. Preferably back home, but either way she shouldn't be _here_.

"What are you doing here?" I blurted out.

"I was waiting for you. Did you have fun tonight?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "A lot."

"Where'd you go?" she asked stepping closer to me.

"Karaoke. We met up with Peggy and Ella."

"Did you sing?" she smiled, stepping closer again.

"Yeah," I laughed. "Ella and I sang that love medley from Moulin Rouge. And I did Superstition too."

"Oh," she blinked in surprise. "You sang with Ella?"

"Yeah, I didn't want to sing alone my first time so I asked her to go up with me," I explained. I couldn't figure out what was going through her head and I still didn't know what she was doing here.

"Why didn't you ask Caitlyn?" Another step forward and now she was in touching distance. I sighed.

"What are you doing here Mitch?"

"I was waiting for you," she repeated. I reached out for her arm and tugged her closer.

"Why are you waiting though?"

"I just wanted to know how your night went." She looked up into my eyes and I saw something unfamiliar there.

"You could have called like you do every night."

She shook her head. "I needed to _see _you."

"Why's that?"

"So I could do this."

I only just registered the words in my buzzed state before her lips pressed up against mine.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, so we've crossed the line from emotional cheating to physical cheating. Awesome (except it's not really because cheating is wrong)! Apparently Mitchie didn't really like Nate being out and having fun with out her. Ha.

**Songs Mentioned (none of which I own): **Elephant Love Medley – Moulin Rouge. Summer Lovin' – Grease. Love Shack – B52s. I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor. Superstition – Stevie Wonder. That's Just the Way We Roll – Jonas Brothers.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: **For anyone who thinks this is moving a bit slow, please realise that from the first chapter to this one it's only been six days. Chapter one was Saturday evening at her cousin's wedding and this one is Friday morning.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

I woke up this morning in a very good mood. Then I remembered _why _I was in a good mood. I immediately called Caitlyn freaking out.

"Hello?" she answered happily.

"Caitlyn!" My voice was frantic, but I couldn't help it.

"Nate?" she asked worriedly. "What's wrong? Are you hurt? Is everything okay?"

"No Cait, I don't think it is."

"Just calm down and tell me what happened."

"Last night – I – she." I sighed in frustration and gave up. "I need to talk to you."

"I'm here," she urged. "Talk."

"Let's go out to breakfast or something," I suggested. "Anything. I need to get out of my house. I can't be here."

"Absolutely," she agreed right away. "You okay to drive or you want me to pick you up?"

"Can you pick me up?" I felt like a child having to ask that, but my mind wasn't fit to be driving.

"I'll be there in twenty minutes."

I hung up my phone and took a quick shower before getting dressed. The shower managed to calm my nerves a bit and I wasn't as frantic when I tossed on a jacket and hat and headed out the front door. I waited on the porch for Caitlyn to get there and she pulled up several minutes later. I wordlessly got in the passenger seat. I had to give her credit. I know she wanted so badly to ask me what was going on, but instead she kept her questions to herself. That was a big step for Caitlyn. We both knew she could get the answers she wanted out of me with little prodding, but she respected that I wasn't ready to talk.

"Where do you want to eat?" she asked instead.

"Anywhere they serve food."

"Oh well that sums it up," she rolled her eyes.

"I'm a twenty-two year old male who just woke up."

"Point taken," she nodded. "How about we just go to that diner a few towns over."

"The one that mostly old people go to?" I wrinkled my nose. I didn't mind old people, but being completely surrounded by them always made me feel like a child.

She smirked. "That's the one."

"You know how I feel about that place."

"Hey! You said anywhere that serves food. That places serves food, _good_ food," she defended. "Besides, it'll be more private there then somewhere swarming with younger people."

She had a point; a bunch of senior citizens weren't going to be concerned with my breakfast outing or conversation. I sighed and she smiled in triumph. Another half an hour and we were sitting in a cozy booth with coffees, waiting for our food to be delivered.

"So are you going to tell me what happened any time?" she asked, looking at me intently. I was thankful to have Caitlyn as a friend – despite how obnoxious she could be. She wasn't fussing and she wasn't being pushy. She just acknowledged that she wanted to know what's up, but left the option up to me.

"Everything went wrong last night Caitlyn." I looked down to my mug before raising my eyes back up to her. "Everything's changed now. And I can't handle things this way."

"What do you mean?" she frowned. "I thought you had fun last night."

"I did," I nodded quickly.

"Then what's the problem?" she raised an eyebrow. "You can't _handle_ having fun?"

"No, it's not that. I-" I stopped and sighed. I didn't want to tell her this, but I had to. "Caitlyn, Mitchie was there last night."

"What do you mean she was there?" she asked confused. "Shane and her stayed and opened presents for hours. Shane told me so himself this morning when I talked to him."

"Not at the karaoke bar," I shook my head.

"Then where…" her eyes snapped to mine as realization hit her. "She was at your house?"

I nodded grimly. "Caity, I don't know what to do."

"Tell me what happened," she demanded.

"I was just making a snack. Oh, and thanks for making me buy so much junk the other day."

"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome. No stalling, keep going."

"So, I was digging through the cupboards and I _swear _I didn't know she had been there, Caitlyn. I had no idea. She must have been sitting around in the damn dark for crying out loud!"

"Nate," she said sternly. "Please, stop stalling and just tell me what happened."

I sighed. I trained my eyes on my coffee before whispering out an answer. "She kissed me Caitlyn."

"She what?" her eyebrows rose. And that's all it took for me to start rambling and spill everything.

"She kissed me. And I kissed her back and… and I thought that meant she'd broken up with Shane. I didn't think she'd kiss me if she were still with him. And things got pretty heated. And then… and then her phone rang. And it was Shane. And she told him she was home, in bed. And I realised she didn't break up with him. And she had no qualms over having been sucking my face moments before and lying to him about it. And when she hung up the phone she tried to start kissing me _again_. And, oh god Caity, I wanted to kiss her _so _bad. I've been waiting so long to be able to. I didn't start again though. I promise Caity. I made her leave – even though it killed me to. I never wanted to do this to Shane. And I don't know what to do now."

I was panting by the time I finished talking. It felt good to get that all out, but I felt terrible putting it all on Caitlyn. I just needed help. And she'd give me help and not bullshit around about it.

"I can't believe her," Caitlyn shook her head. "After our talk in the car the other day she still has the nerve to kiss you."

She paused as our food was delivered. The waitress, who appeared to be in her forties, heard Caitlyn's last statement and very quickly put our plates before us and disappeared again. I was thankful she did, I didn't need people listening in to this. As soon as she was gone though Caitlyn was starting back in on me.

"And you kissed her back! How could you do that?"

"I didn't know they were still together!" I defended right away.

"Well you should have. You think she's just going to do that on her own?" she glared at me. "Mitchie's a wimp when it comes to stuff like that. She won't do it until she's forced. Why do you think she hasn't broken up with him yet? Even though she claims she wants to be with you "so badly"."

"Caitlyn," I warned. I didn't want to hear this. I didn't want her to talk bad about Mitchie, and worse, I know what she said was true. Mitchie wouldn't break up with Shane on her own, even for me.

"No Nate! You need to hear this." She took a deep breath before continuing. "She's not going to break up with him unless you, me or Jason _force_ her to. And even then who knows if she will." I glared at her but she ignored it and kept going. "I love you Nate. You know I do. But I can't ignore the fact that I _hate _what you guys are doing. And I love Shane just as much as I love you. So if she doesn't break up with him soon, I _will_ tell him. He deserves better than this. And to be completely honest, so do you."

"I know he doesn't deserve this," I said quietly, pushing my food around my plate. "Do you think I like what's going on? Shane's my best friend, more then Jason, you or anyone else. He's been there for me through _everything_, even when he was a jerk years ago, he was there for me. And how do I repay him? I fall in love with his girlfriend and have an emotional affair behind his back."

"Physical," she spoke up.

"Give me some credit Cait," I pleaded, desperate for some sort of reassurance. "I thought they broke up and as _soon _as I realized they didn't I stopped. I have more control then that."

"I'll give you that you stopped, but you still did it."

"I know," I groaned, shoving a piece of toast angrily in my mouth.

"As soon as we're done eating we're calling Mitchie," she warned.

"No, Cait, please. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone."

"I don't care Nate," she shook her head. "I'm sorry, really, but this needs to be taken care of. Because as much as I hate what you guys are doing, I'm starting to hate Mitchie for even doing it. And I don't want to hate her, or you. So this needs to be taken care of."

"Can you promise me at least one thing?" I pleaded.

"Depends."

"Don't tell Jason."

"Why shouldn't I?" she challenged.

"Come on Caitlyn. I already hate myself enough. I've been living in guilt for so long and I can't take Jason being even _more_ disappointed in me then he already is."

"You should have thought of that before," she scowled.

"Caitlyn, _please_."

She sighed and looked at me very seriously. "It wasn't your fault so I won't tell him this time. If I find out it happens again however, I will be letting him know."

* * *

**A/N: **Be honest with me, how many of you dislike Mitchie? I don't even like her anymore in this fic.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** **First**, a quick thanks to all of you who are reading this and not reviewing – and those reviewing too! **Second**, I edited all the chapters before this. Nothing relevant really changed – the tenses switched around a bunch and the wording was slightly off – so it's nothing to be concerned about, but to some people it might matter so I thought I'd let you know. **Third**, a million thank yous go to _suburbs _– who read this through for me and suggested some improvements. She was extremely helpful and is an awesome writer so you should check her things out too.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

I watched silently as Caitlyn paced the floor in front of me. We were at Mitchie's house. True to her word when breakfast ended Caitlyn called Mitchie up and asked if it was okay if she stopped by for a visit. She didn't tell her I was coming, not wanting her to have a warning about what was to come. As far as Mitchie had known Caitlyn was stopping by for a friendly visit. Boy was she surprised when she saw me standing awkwardly behind Caitlyn. I sat silently, avoiding Mitchie's glare, and waited for Caitlyn to speak.

"I don't know what to do with you Mitchie!" she finally declared, throwing her hands in the air.

"This isn't even really your concern Caitlyn. You don't have to do anything with me."

"Of course it's my concern!" she scoffed. "_Shane_ is my concern. _Nate_ is my concern. _Jason,_ even, is my concern! And you, I just don't even know what to think anymore."

"It was a mistake Caitlyn," she rolled her eyes. "Everybody makes mistakes."

"A mistake?" Caitlyn laughed. "It was a mistake you were waiting at his house? A mistake you kissed him? A mistake you lied to Shane and continued kissing him?"

"Hey! He kissed me back you know!" she defended. "Why aren't you laying in to him too?"

I glared at her. I couldn't believe she was trying to place blame on me for this. I know what I did was wrong and we were both at fault, but seriously? That was low.

"First of all, I've already layed in to him," Caitlyn explained. "Second of all, _he_ didn't show up at _your_ house and kiss you after you'd been out drinking with friends. Oh, and best yet, third of all, _he_ at least regrets things. _He_ understands what he did was wrong. And I honestly don't think _you_ even see the problem with this. You act like it's no big deal."

"I know it's a big deal," Mitchie crossed her arms. She looked so small in that moment. Her eyes began to water slightly and I tensed in my seat, praying she wouldn't cry right at this moment.

"Do you?" Caitlyn challenged. "Because you aren't acting like it."

"Well what do you want me to do?" Mitchie stood up angrily shouting at Caitlyn, her tears forgotten. "I can't take back what happened! There's nothing that can be done!"

I sat in my chair, still silent, and looked between the two of them. Caitlyn looked pissed, like she wanted to hit something, throw something, anything. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were set in an intense glare while her fists were clenched at her sides. Mitchie, on the other hand, looked annoyed. Her hands were on her hips and her eyebrows were raised in a way that said "yeah, yeah, just get on with it and leave me alone". There was no more sign of her tears. I mentally looked over my own body. I was sitting limply in an armchair. My shoulders were sagged while my head hung slightly and I could tell my face was set in a frown. Isn't that how Mitchie should look? Not annoyed? Shouldn't she be guilty and upset?

"Are you that dense?" Caitlyn yelled back. "Of course there's something that can be done!"

"Like what?"

"Break up with Shane!"

"Maybe I don't want to!" Mitchie snapped back at her before quickly covering her mouth in shock.

The three of us sat in a tense silent. Mitchie looked like she'd just admitted to murder. Caitlyn was looking at me pityingly, probably reading my thoughts. And I was staring at Mitchie with wide eyes, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. So she didn't want to break up with Shane? She could come and kiss me, but she still wouldn't break up with her boyfriend. No, it wasn't even the fact that she _wouldn't_ do it, she said she didn't _want_ to do it.

"What do you mean you don't want to?" I asked quietly. "I thought you were going to."

"Nate, I didn't mean that," she explained quickly. "I do, I do want to break up with him. I want to be with you. I just, Caitlyn made me angry and it just came out."

"Oh don't blame this on me," Caitlyn cut in. "You wouldn't have said it if you weren't thinking it."

"I think you've been enough help in this situation," Mitchie glared at Caitlyn.

Caitlyn shook her head sadly. "I don't think anyone can help you in this situation Mitchie. I'll leave, but why don't you call me when you become the friend I used to know again. The one who wouldn't dream of cheating on her boyfriend or leading on two _really_ amazing guys."

Mitchie stared back at her angrily before turning her head and refusing to look at her, locking eyes with me instead.

"You coming with me Nate?" Caitlyn asked after she put her jacket on. Mitchie pouted at the question but I just nodded slowly and threw her a confused look before standing from my chair and following Caitlyn from the room.

"Nate!" Mitchie called after me just before we reached the front door. Caitlyn shook her head and I silently begged her to wait just a minute. She nodded reluctantly and I ventured back in to Mitchie. "Are you mad with me?"

I couldn't even believe she had to ask that. "Yeah Mitchie, I think I am."

"I'm sorry," she said sounding like a scolded child.

I sighed and moved forward to hug her. "I just need to think some things over Mitch."

"I really didn't mean that," she said quietly into my chest. "I do want to break up with him. And I do want to be with you."

"I really want to believe that Mitchie, so I'm going to."

"And about last night, I'm sorry. I will break-"

"Please don't do this right now Mitchie," I cut her off. "I can't handle anymore this morning." She nodded and I could see the tears starting to form in her eyes again. "I'll call you."

"When?" she looked up at me as she finally pulled out of the hug.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "When I'm ready to talk to you again."

She nodded sadly, a few tears finally falling, and I forced myself to leave before I could comfort her. She was finally showing the guilt and sorrow that was appropriate, but I couldn't help but think it was because I was mad at her and not because of what had happened or how she'd acted. I quickly moved down the driveway to Caitlyn's car and slammed the door behind me.

"I'm sorry Nate," she said with a sad smile.

"Nothing's your fault Cait," I shook my head.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I shrugged, unsure. Did I want to talk about this? And if I did, did I want to put it all on Caitlyn again? I settled on a simple answer.

"I'm just confused right now Caitlyn. Ever since she told you what happened a few days ago she's been different. She hasn't been like this the whole time. Now she just seems so… heartless. I just need to work this out."

Caitlyn was silent for a long moment before responding. "You're not going to like what I have to say to that."

"I never like what you have to say to anything," I sigh, "but that doesn't mean you're not usually right."

She allowed herself to smile slightly at my response before sobering back up and telling me her thoughts. "I think that I guilted her in to telling me or she never would have."

"I know that," I snorted.

"Let me finish," she held her hand up. I nodded. "I don't think she would have wanted to tell anyone because I think she liked the idea of you being willing to wait and love her while she paraded around with Shane still. I don't think she had serious intentions of breaking up with Shane, no matter what she told you, and now that it's being forced on her she's not sure if that's really what she wants to do."

"No," I said firmly. "She was going to break up with him. She _is _going to break up with him. And then me and her can be together."

"Nate," she shook her head sadly at me. "After everything that's happened since yesterday why would you even want to be with her still?"

"I love her Caitlyn," I said seriously. "I love her."

"Yeah, but Nate-"

"Can we not talk about this any more please?" I asked desperately. She nodded and drove me home in silence, allowing me to think things through.

I hated what Caitlyn had to say, because I knew she's almost always spot-on with her ideas. And I really didn't want her to be right about this. I really wanted her to be wrong. I wanted Mitchie to be ready to break up with Shane. I wanted to be able to be with Mitchie, even after everything that's happened in such a short frame of time. Just because Caitlyn was provoking this side of Mitchie she didn't like doesn't mean Mitchie was always this way. It was once Caitlyn started getting suspicious and left Mitchie's party with me that this weird behavior started. Maybe that was why she was acting that way. Caitlyn had always been one of my best friends, but Mitchie was the one I'd spend my time with. And with the exception of Monday, Caitlyn had been around everyday this week. Mitchie did get irrationally jealous sometimes, so maybe that's what the problem was. I didn't really know. All I knew was that I loved Mitchie and I wasn't going to let a bad decision or two change that. Her not wanting to break up with Shane on the other hand… that was going to change things.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:** I had this suddenly different idea for this fic. And so now I know exactly what I want to happen, so I'm excited. I think a lot of you will be happy with Nate in this chapter. I'm a bit proud of him myself. Oh, by the way, I may have went a bit italic happy towards the end, hope that doesn't get on your nerves too much. :)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

"Hey can I call you right back?" Shane answered his phone. "I'm on the other line with Mitchie."

"Sure," I sighed in relief. I was not looking forward to this phone call much, but I couldn't just ignore him because things with his girlfriend weren't working out for me the way I hoped.

"Great."

And he hung up. I set the phone down on the table in front of me and stared at it as I waited for it to ring. He was on the other line with Mitchie and that could mean anything. She could be telling him. She could be breaking up with him. She also could be just chatting happily. Maybe she was making date plans with him. Who really knew? Whatever conversation they were having, I had to ready myself for the reactions of. If she were telling him then he'd be pissed when he called me back. If she wasn't and they were getting along great _I'd_ probably be pissed when he called me back. After several minutes of silence the phone finally rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Nate, sorry," he responded. "We were trying to figure out what we wanted to do tonight."

"Oh," I said flatly. So she was still going to go on pretending nothing was wrong.

"Yeah, she said you guys had a fight or something though?" he asked. "She wouldn't really give me the details, but when I suggested we get together with you, Cait and Jason she nearly started crying."

"Oh," I repeated this time far more interested. So it was effecting her then? That's good.

"So what happened?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it."

"Don't be an idiot Nate. Somethings wrong with her and you too," he said getting to the point. "I was with Cait yesterday morning when you called. Then she rushed off all worried about you. So what happened? And how'd it end up effecting Mitchie?"

"Wait, you were with Caitlyn?" I questioned. "Why were you with her?"

"We get together every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for breakfast," he said in a tone indicating I should have known that. "We have for a few years now. How else do you think we became such good friends?"

"Well I don't know," I defended my lack of knowledge. "I'm good friends with her but I don't go out with her three times a week. I thought you guys were just friends from hanging out in a group. Actually," I paused, "I didn't know you guys were good friends at all. She never said."

"You're so oblivious sometimes," he chuckled lightly. "You're not the only one best friends with one of them. I'm best friends with Cait just like you are with Mitchie."

"Oh," I said stupidly. What I really wanted to say was that their friendship was nothing like mine and Mitchie's, but then I'd have a lot of explaining to do.

"Now don't change the subject," Shane went on. "What happened between you and Mitchie? You guys are best friends."

I wasn't sure what to tell him so I stuck with a half-truth. "She was upset I didn't stay around after her party to help and went out instead."

"That's it?" Shane laughed and I just knew he was shaking his head. "She's so over dramatic sometimes."

"Yeah," I laughed nervously back. I wanted to say something in her defense, but I just couldn't right now, not to him. "She can definitely over react."

"So what were you calling for anyway?" he asked a few minutes later.

"Just wanted to see what's up and what you were doing tonight, but you've got plans with Mitchie, so never mind."

"Oh no, we only decided on going to dinner. I'm free after that. What about a good old fashioned guys night out?" he suggested. "We haven't had one in a long time."

"Sure," I found myself agreeing before I could think it through.

"Great. I'll call Jason and see if he's in."

"Alright. Just give me a call and let me know what's up," I sighed.

"Well you don't have to sound so excited," he laughed. I laughed back and we exchanged our goodbyes and hung up.

It was really stupid to agree to go out with him tonight. I could already see several possibilities of it going wrong. I'd be stuck with Shane and Jason. Jason's going to know my secret and disapprove and that'll ride my shoulders all night. And Shane wouldn't know and act like the friend he is, the friend I should be. And what if Shane brought Mitchie up? Would Jason say something? Would I say something? And who knows where he even plans to go. What if we go to a bar or club? Shane will definitely try to get me a girl if we do. He's always trying to push me on girls, hoping I'd like one enough to date. And I usually at least talk to the girl just to get him off my back. So what if I do and he tells Mitchie? I sigh as I realize I need to call her. I hadn't talked to her since I walked out of her house yesterday morning and didn't plan to so early either, but I just _needed_ to. I needed to just talk to her. I dial her number and wait a few rings until she picks up.

"Hello?" she answered hopefully. "Nate?"

"Hey Mitchie," I sighed.

"Hi!" She sounded excited. "What are you doing?"

"Just sitting around the house," I shrugged. "It's Saturday…"

"And we usually hang out Saturdays," she finished my sentence.

"Yeah." Every Saturday we would do something together. Our lives tended to get pretty busy, but Saturdays were always clear for each other, and now I had nothing to do.

"Did you want to do something?" I could hear the hope seep back in to her voice.

"Let's just talk," I sighed.

"Okay, but can I come over to talk?"

"I don't think so Mitch," I shook my head. She sighed but didn't argue.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"I just made some plans with Shane for tonight," I informed her.

"But he made plans with me."

"Yeah, after you guys go to dinner, me and Jason and him are going out."

"Oh," she said. "Can I come?"

"I don't think so. You already told Shane we were fighting and you didn't want to hang out with us."

"That was when I thought you weren't talking to me though. Now you're talking to me so it's okay. I'll tell him we made up."

"Can I ask you something Mitchie?"

"Anything," she said right away.

"Why'd you do it?"

"Do what?" she asked confused.

"Kiss me."

"Because I love you Nate," she said simply. As much as I loved hearing her say that, her answer frustrated me.

"There's got to be more to it then that though," I pressed. "You've claimed you loved me for a long time now, and we've never crossed that boundry line before. So why do it now? What changed?"

"I haven't claimed I love you," she said annoyed. "I _have_ loved you. I _do_ love you."

"I know you love me. I just – I need to know what changed. Why'd you do it? And don't say it was spur of the moment, you were waiting for me at my damn house."

She was quiet for a long time before she whispered a response. "I thought I was losing you to Caitlyn. I still think I'm losing you to her."

"Oh Mitchie," I sighed, running a hand over my face.

"You've been hanging out with her instead of me all week," she went on quietly. "And you're taking her side in conversations when you're supposed to take my side. And you left _both_my birthday parties to hang out with her." In an even quieter voice, one I had to strain to hear, she added, "you left on my birthday night to go out with her."

"Mitchie, it's not like that with Caitlyn and you know it."

"But I don't know," she insisted. "Shane doesn't know how things are with me and you, so how am I to know things aren't like that with you and Caitlyn?"

"Are you serious?" I was beyond offended. "Do you really think I'd do that?"

"I don't know." That set me off.

"I love you Mitchie. I _love_ you. And I've been waiting pretty damn patiently for you to break up with Shane so I could be with you. And guess what?" I rose my voice. "You _haven't_. I've sat by and waited, believing you _every_time you said you were going to do it soon."

"I am going to!" she broke in.

"Are you? Cause I'm _still_ the jerk who's in love with his best friend's girlfriend. Do you think I'd risk everything Shane and me have in our friendship if I didn't seriously want to be with you and _only _you? No! I wouldn't! But I do want to be with you. So bad Mitchie. I'd ask you to marry me right this second if you weren't dating Shane still. That's how positive I am I'll love you forever. And it _killed _me to stop kissing you the other night do you know that? Do you even stop and think what your actions do to me? How everything you do or say effects me? No, you're too damn busy thinking about your own life and how things can work out for you."

"Nate I-"

"I'm not done," I cut her off, too angry and worked up to care that she sounded like she was crying again. "I have been _nothing_ but patient with you and sat by as you flitted between Shane and me, but I _won't_ do it anymore. If you can't even believe in me enough to know I want nothing but you, no one but you, then you don't deserve to have me. You don't deserve to have me and I don't deserve to be treated like this. And neither does Shane. So I'm going out with him tonight, and you _aren't_ invited to join us because I'm not talking to you anymore."

"Nate please," she whimpered in to the phone.

"I can't Mitchie. I can't do this anymore. You aren't going to break up with him and I can't keep waiting for you to. So this is it for us. I'm through with it."

"But Nate," she pleaded. "I just need a little more time."

"You've had enough time Mitchie!" I shouted in to the phone. "I'm done. I'll see you when I see you."

"No, don't go," she sobbed.

"Goodbye Mitchie."

I hung up the phone breathing heavily. I couldn't believe I just did that. When I got my breathing under control I dialed Shane again.

"Hey, I was just about to call you back," he answered.

"Let's go to the bar tonight," I responded right away.

"Okay, but Jason wanted to know if Caitlyn can come, they had plans tonight already," he explained. "I told him I'd ask you since you thought to make plans in the first place.

"I don't care," I muttered. "I just want to go to the bar."

* * *

**A/N: **I just love that Nate finally put Mitchie in her place. I'm actually very over joyed with him, probably unnecessarily so. Thanks for anyone reading and reviewing!


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:** I owe a million thanks to _suburbs_ yet again for reading through this and doing a bit of editing where needed. Thanks you! :) And, as usual, thanks to everyone who's reading this.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

Jason just pulled in my driveway with Caitlyn in the passenger's seat. It's only half past six and Shane's still at dinner, but I had told Caitlyn I needed to tell her something and here they are. I met them at the door and brought them straight in to my kitchen, where I had food prepared and waiting for them.

"So what happened now?" she asked as they took their places in front of their plates. I could hear the exasperation in her voice and felt guilty, but at least this was news she'd love.

"I called Mitchie tonight."

"Nate," she groaned, throwing her head back in annoyance.

"Hear me out first," I told her. "It's not bad."

"How could it not be bad? It's all bad with her."

"Did I miss something that happened?" Jason asked, looking between the two of us.

"Yes," I said simply. "And no, I'm not going to tell you."

"Why not?" he pouted.

"I can't handle telling you," I told him honestly.

"We'll work that out later," Caitlyn sighed. "Just tell me what happened during this phone call so we can work this out now before we see Shane."

"I ended it with her," I told them proudly.

"You what?" Caitlyn blinked.

"I told her I didn't deserve this treatment, that I deserved better. I told her I've been nothing but patient and trusting with her and in return she just strung me along and accused me of being with someone else. And I didn't deserve that."

It was funny how happily I could talk about it. It's like I didn't just rip my own heart out and stomp on it. I could tell it confused them how I sounded. Last Caitlyn had heard I was miserable. And she was bound to tell Jason at least about how terrible Mitchie's been even though she said she wouldn't tell him about the kiss.

"Well," Caitlyn said after thinking it over for a few minutes. "This is great."

"I know isn't it?" I laughed.

"Why do you find it so great?" Jason asked confused.

"Because I love her Jason, but the more I did the more I hated myself. Now I don't have to hate myself as much. I can start to like myself again."

Jason nodded like he understood and Caitlyn, in a rare moment of silence, just picked at her food. I was too preoccupied with my own thoughts about what the night had in store to think much about Caitlyn's silence and instead turned to Jason again.

"So where are we going tonight?" I asked excitedly.

* * *

I walked in to the bar behind Shane laughing happily. The place they'd chosen was a three-story bar. The first floor was an easygoing bar with a jukebox supplying the music and dartboards and pool tables for entertainment. Shane walked right through that one and to a staircase that led up to the other floors. He passed right by the second and I only paused long enough to see it was set up more like a club. There were flashing lights and loud electronic music selected by a DJ was blasting through the speakers. When we reached the top floor I was pleased with the sight. This floor was larger and a mix of both others. There was the DJ and dance floor on one side that stopped just before the actual bar, which was centered in the room. On the other side of the bar there was a few pool tables and booths lining the walls. Shane headed straight for a booth and we piled in behind him.

"Great place!" I nodded.

Shane laughed. "I like to start here and work my way down the floors as the night goes on." I gave him a questioning look and he explained. "Start at the top sober. Once I'm a bit buzzed I move to the club downstairs and dance and goof off. Then when I have enough of that I head to the bottom bar and work up the nerve to leave, which isn't that hard because Steve, the bartender, will through me out when I get obnoxious."

"How often do you come here?" I asked in wonder.

"Almost every Saturday," he shrugged like it was no big deal. "I would have brought you before, but you're usually with Mitchie Saturday nights."

"Yeah, well that won't be a problem anymore. Maybe I'll come back next week with you."

"No, no, no," Jason shook his head over at us. "Next week if we do this again we're going somewhere I choose."

"Fine," I agreed. "But then I get to pick the week after."

"You really don't think you'll be talking to Mitchie by then?" Shane raised an eyebrow.

"No," I shook my head once.

"What exactly am I missing?" he questioned. "You guys never even fight."

"Well when we fight it's a big one," I shrugged.

"But what happened?"

"Hey! I'm going to go get drinks," Caitlyn called suddenly. "Come with me Nate?"

I nodded in relief for not having to answer Shane and stood with her. I turned back to Jason and Shane. "What are you guys having?"

"I already know," Caitlyn said, tugging on my arm. "Just because you don't come out doesn't mean I don't."

It might have just been me, but the way she said that was almost rude. Actually, everything she's said to me tonight, which hasn't been much, hasn't been entirely friendly. Once we reached the bar and Caitlyn flagged the bartender down and placed our orders I tapped her shoulder.

"Hey Cait?" I asked.

"What?" she said looking at me out of the corner of her eye. Yes, she was definitely being rude.

"Did I do something wrong?" I frowned.

"I really don't have the time to get in to this with you right now," she sighed.

"I don't get it though," I persisted. "I thought you'd be happy. You told me I shouldn't keep things up with her."

She finally turned to face me fully. "Do you really want to do this now?"

"Yes," I said automatically.

"Okay. So that's it then? You end it with her, never talk to her anymore and act like nothing happened?"

"Well yeah, that's kind of the plan."

"And when Jason's birthday rolls around?" she asked. "Is he going to have to choose between inviting you or her?"

"What! No!"

"And what about Shane?" she went on.

"What about him?" I didn't understand.

"You're going to go on pretending like you didn't betray him? You're going to let him stay with someone you know cheated on him?"

"Caitlyn," I said, putting my hand out for her to stop. She did and I took a deep breath. "Obviously I need to think some things through still, but this alone was a big step for me. Can't you at least let me have tonight?" I pleaded. "Can you wait until tomorrow to get all voice of reason on me? I'll figure this out later."

She stared at me for a few moments, only turning around when our drinks were set before us, before turning back to me. "I am happy you did what you did. You both needed this. You need to stand up for yourself and she needs a wake-up call. But Shane needs to know the truth. I need him to know the truth."

"Why do you need him to?" I asked.

"Because what I said before holds true. If either you or Mitchie don't tell him I will. This doesn't change that." She stopped and turned back to the bar, picking up her and Jason's drinks and I followed her lead and grabbed Shane's and mine. Just before she started walking away she locked eyes with me one last time. "He might not even take it as bad as you think he will. Or at least, he might not stay angry as long as you think."

With that she walked away and it took me a few moments to follow her. I couldn't help but wonder why she'd think that and if it were true. I'm reluctant to admit it, but I think she may know him better than I do these days. She sees him three times a week, every week. And more than that I'm sure since we try to get together as a group whenever we can. And me? I see him when we get together as a group or when we're working. That's it. I haven't had any one on one time with Shane in a long time, excluding shopping for Mitchie's birthday. I've been too ashamed to. And I'm even more ashamed to admit that. I'm a terrible friend.

I sighed as I set Shane's drink down in front of him and took a long chug of my own. And that's when it began.

"Hey Nate," Shane nudged me. "That girl over there's looking at you."

* * *

It's funny how long it's been since I've actually flirted with a stranger, and yet, I found myself doing quite well. We were on the second level now and I was sitting in a booth along the wall. This level is set up as one huge dance floor with the bar in the center and booths along each wall. Every other inch of space is dance floor and it's a good thing it is. As I look out across the floor all I could see was people of various ages in various states of dress mushed together, but none of them seemed to mind. I spotted Shane, Jason and Caitlyn all dancing together and laughed at the sight. It wasn't as provocative as everyone around them, but they were enjoying themselves all the same and suddenly I wanted to dance too. I turned back to the girls I was sitting with.

"What do you girls say we move this party to the dance floor?" I asked. I couldn't believe I'd just said that. Not for the fact I asked them to dance, but _how_ I said it. And still, I couldn't seem to bring myself to be embarrassed or really care at all. Then again, after how many drinks I've had, that's not a surprise.

They eagerly agreed and I downed the rest of my nearly full drink. I was soon dancing with one of the girls as the other two quickly found guys to hang on to. I hadn't danced with anyone like this in a long time and that must have shown through because the girl, Alexis, leaned up and told me to relax. I smiled sheepishly and, returning the smile, she took the initiative to loosen me up herself. Soon we were dancing close and panting from all the movement.

"Nate! Buddy!" Shane called a little while later, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

"What?" I lightly snapped at him. "I'm a little busy here."

He laughed and sent me a smirk. "I can see that. Unfortunately I need to steal you for a minute. Actually," he said after a second. "She can come too. We really only need you for a minute or two."

I looked down to Alexis who smiled and shrugged. I took that as a "why not" and sighed. "Alright let's go."

Shane led me to the bar where Jason and Caitlyn were waiting with four shot glasses set up before them.

"Order one more," Shane grinned at them.

"Okay," Caitlyn blinked. Once she turned back around she stared at Alexis – who clung to my arm – with distaste. Luckily Alexis didn't seem to notice as Jason made small talk with her.

"I can't believe you dragged me from the dance floor to take a shot," I shook my head with a small smile.

"We couldn't do this one without you," Shane laughed. "So who's the girl?"

"Alexis," I told him, making sure she couldn't hear us. I knew what was coming next.

"I never would have pegged her as your type."

"And just what is my type?" I challenged.

"Not that," he laughed. I laughed with him this time. He was right. She wasn't my type at all. She had hair that had a blond base color with dark shades of brown and auburn mixed in. It looked okay, but I preferred natural hair colors. She was dressed cute, but there was a lot of skin showing and a tattoo was visible on her lower back. She wasn't my usual type, but if I were to be honest – which I didn't want to be – what attracted me to her was because she wasn't anything like Mitchie.

"What can I say?" I grinned. I knew I would regret my words before they were even out of my mouth but said them anyway. "She's hot."

I felt like such a jerk as Jason demanded we all line up and take our shots. As soon as I slammed the small glass on the counter I excused myself quickly and took off to the restrooms without a backward glace at Alexis. Inside I turned the handle for the cold water and splashed a few handfuls on my face. I wiped the water from my eyes and grabbed some paper towels to dry my face. When I pulled the towel away from my face I was startled to see Jason staring at me intently.

"Hey," I said unsure.

"Can we talk?"

"In here?" I asked looking left and right, not sure if he realized that we were in the men's room.

"Yeah," he nodded. "I want to talk to you without Shane or Caitlyn around."

"Well, uh, I guess then."

"What happened between you and Mitchie?"

"I told you," I rolled my eyes. "I told her I deserved better and I was done with her stringing me along. Do we really need to talk about this now?"

"We do need to," he nodded. "And I didn't mean today. I meant what happened that you didn't tell me."

"Oh that," I said slowly. "I can't tell you."

"Why not?" he scoffed. "You told Caitlyn."

"I told her because I was freaking out!"

"Well why wouldn't you call me? I'm your best friend too you know."

"Because I hate disappointing you!"

He blinked. "So you won't tell me what's going on because you don't want to disappoint me?" I nodded stiffly. "I'll just start making my own assumptions then."

"Please don't Jase," I groaned.

"Then tell me."

"I just can't," I sighed. "I don't want you to hate either of us."

"Nate, I'm not going to hate you guys."

"Caitlyn does," I mumbled. "Why wouldn't you?"

"She does not," he said softly. "She's just upset by it all."

"Are you kidding me? She's not even talking to Mitchie because of this!"

"You aren't either!" he shot back. He sighed and we were silent for a minute before he asked his next question. "If you're so done with her why are you still protecting her?"

I looked him in the eye as I answered. "I might have told her I was done, but I'll never stop loving her. I'll always protect her."

After a mini staring contest he motioned to the door and then turned and left with me trailing just behind him. Once we reached the others Alexis was quick to pull me back out on to the dance floor with her friends and I allowed her to drag me, even though I wasn't in the mood to dance anymore. She noticed my reluctance almost immediately and pouted.

"You don't want to dance anymore," she stated.

I shrugged. "If you want to it's fine."

"Would you rather go back with your friends? We can go over there," she suggested. "I was having a lot of fun talking to Shane well you were in the bathroom. Him, Jason and you are all so cool! I never would have thought you three were so great."

It was then, at the reminder of my fame, that I realized just how stupid I was to be out meeting girls at a bar. I nodded and she led me back over to the bar where they still stood. Jason was talking to the bartender and Shane and Caitlyn were laughing and talking. Alexis invited herself to join their conversation and Caitlyn quickly scowled at her and joined into Jason's instead. Gee, was it just me or did Caitlyn not like Alexis? I was sure I'd hear about this later.

I tried to pay attention to Shane and Alexis, adding input every so often, but wasn't really interested in it. I was just starting to wonder what Mitchie was doing right now when I heard my name in Caitlyn and Jason's conversation. They must not have realised I was close enough to over hear them with all the noise around the room. Trying to pretend I was still paying attention to Shane and Alexis I concentrated on hearing what they were saying.

"Come on Cait, we tell each other everything!" Jason whined.

"A promise is a promise," she shook her head. "Ever think there was a reason he's not telling you?"

"I know there is," Jason nodded. "And it's stupid. He said he doesn't want me to hate him or Mitchie."

"What's he care if you hate Mitchie?" Caitlyn snorted. "You probably should."

"Don't say that Cait," he said softly. "You might be angry with her, but you don't hate her or think anyone should either."

"Shane should," she countered.

"He'll be angry, but he won't hate her. You know as well as I do that he doesn't care about her the way he used to. That's why Nate's looking like a better candidate for her than Shane. And the only people who don't notice are Shane and Mitchie."

"Maybe, but Shane doesn't know that he doesn't care the same," she pointed out. "He's still under the impression that they're as in love as when they first got together."

"You know what's happening don't you?" Jason asked.

"They're both hanging on to what they felt before," she answered.

"Exactly."

"That's probably why she won't break up with him yet," Caitlyn said thoughtfully. "She's remembering how they used to be and not thinking of how they are now."

"That's not why."

"How do you know?"

"Because I talked to her about it on her birthday," Jason said like it was obvious.

"Then why won't she just break up with him? It's not fair to Nate or Shane. Nate's gone through a lot emotionally and I don't think she even gets it."

"She gets it," Jason told her. "She knows how terrible this is. Why do you think we were so late to her party? She was having a breakdown. She feels awful about this."

"Then she should just break up with him!" Caitlyn said frustrated.

I agreed with Caitlyn, but it was reassuring to know she was struggling emotionally even though she barely showed it. In the mix of everything that had happened I had forgotten how terrible she looked when she showed up at her party the other night.

"She's afraid to," Jason told her.

"She shouldn't be afraid. She should just do it."

"It's not that easy Caitlyn. You know she's never been one for confrontation. And Shane has a bad temper at the worst of times. She just needs a big push in the right direction."

"Nate's been pushing her in the right direction this whole time!"

"I know, and she was going to do it."

"Then why hasn't she?"

"It's not my place to tell you."

"Oh come on Jason!"

"I can't," he teased. "A promise is a promise."

"Fine, but whatever it is you need to get her to still break up with him."

"Why's it so important to you that she breaks up with him?" Jason asked curiously.

"Because she cheated on him!" Caitlyn snapped.

My eyes grew wide and it took a lot of restraint, which I was surprised I had after so many drinks, not to react further and let them know I was listening.

"Well, not technically," Jason said. "I mean, yeah, she's in love with someone else, but it's not like they-" He paused as he pieced everything together. "NO! They didn't!"

"It's not my place to tell you," she echoed his words.

"Caitlyn," he said sternly. "This is different and you know it."

Caitlyn sighed. "I'm only going to explain this once, because I wasn't supposed to mention it at all so pay attention." He nodded and she cast a look in my direction and was apparently reassured I wasn't paying attention because she went on. "She kissed him. He thought they broke up. He found out they didn't and he stopped."

"They kissed?" Jason asked angrily. Caitlyn nodded.

"But then Shane called her and Nate realized they were still together and wouldn't let her kiss him anymore."

"When?" Jason demanded.

"I don't know, a little while in to the kiss."

"No, when did this happen? When did she kiss him?"

"She was in his house when we dropped him off Thursday night."

Jason muttered a curse word before taking a deep breath. "What I'm going to tell you does not leave this bar okay?"

"Okay," Caitlyn said, sitting a little closer.

"You popped up in Nate's life nearly every day this week since leaving her party with him."

"Well I know that," she rolled her eyes.

"I know, but that's why she didn't break up with him this week when we tried to talk her in to it."

"What do you mean?"

"Caitlyn," he sighed. "She thinks she's losing him to you."

"That's ridiculous!"

"Maybe to you, but she really insecure about Nate."

"What's there to be insecure about? He's made his feelings known."

"She feels guilty," he explained. "She's been really down on herself and she just doesn't see what Nate could see in someone like her right now."

"I don't get what he sees in her either right now," Caitlyn laughed humorlessly. "Who would have thought she and I would agree on something in this all."

"Look, I'm not here to get into the inner workings of Mitchie's mind."

"How'd you even get her to tell you all this? I get nothing but anger and annoyed defensiveness from her."

"Simple," he shrugged. "I don't attack her and start accusing her of things. I let her explain herself and see what she has to say. Besides, she's not afraid of losing Nate to me, just you."

Caitlyn laughed then and the discussion turned teasing and moved on. It must be nice to be able to just drop it and move on so easily. Especially since now I had a whole new problem to deal with. Jason said some things that made me regret a lot of the things I said to Mitchie today. It's not me that she doesn't have faith in, it's herself. But what's said is said. I can't take it back. I'll just have to see what happens. With my good mood officially gone I slipped away from my friends, leaving Alexis with Shane, and moved down the stairs to the much tamer bar area. When I reached the bar I ordered another shot and drank it immediately before ordering another drink.

* * *

"Who even let Jason start drinking?" Caitlyn giggled as we sat outside the bar.

"Wasn't me," I held my hands up. "I was with some girls tonight."

"It was you!" Shane laughed, pointing a finger at Caitlyn.

"It was me," Jason corrected with a chuckle.

"So what do we do now?" I sighed. None of us were in any state to drive.

"I got this," Shane waved. He stood and pulled out his cell phone and stumbled a few feet away and made a call. I few moments later he turned back around and grinned at us. "Mitchie'll be here to get us soon. Problem solved."

'No,' I thought, 'problem not solved.'


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:** I'm sorry about my terribly long disappearance. It started with computer problems, progressed into a busy schedule, turned into obsessive Barnes & Noble visits (which are still happening; any book recommendations?) and ended with avoiding the computer like it was deadly. I got over that all though and my cousin got my computer working better then it was before and now I'm back to update. I apologize again. Although, it'll probably happen again in a few months; I go through phases and besides that Little League starts soon.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

When Mitchie finally showed up she looked anything but happy. It was nearing three in the morning and she was no doubt asleep when Shane called. Of course, she could have been more upset at the fact that her friends all went out and left her home to do nothing and then proceeded to call her when they needed something rather then at the hour. I would have been pissed if I was her and Shane went out with all our friends and left me alone when he knew I was in a bad mood. Which is exactly why I smiled as I squished my way into the backseat of her small car and saw her so miserable. I never would have left her and she knows it. Or, you know, it could have been all the alcohol I drank that had me smiling. Who really knows?

"Mitchie!" Caitlyn yelled. Apparently the alcohol was effecting her mood too. "How was your night?"

Mitchie looked up at her surprised. "Fine."

"Only fine," Caitlyn laughed. "We had _so_ much fun! Too bad you didn't come!"

"I wasn't invited," she said tensely.

"You should just make up with Nate," Shane nodded his head. "You're going to anyways so do it right now."

"No Shane!" I reached forward to hit him upside the head clumsily. "I told you earlier it's not that easy."

"Yes it is," he laughed. "You say "Mitchie I'm so sorry about our fight. I love you. Can you forgive me?" It's really simple." Jason and Caitlyn burst out laughing and Shane smiled, satisfied with himself. "Now you try."

"No," I said as firm as I could.

"Come on," he urged. "If you just make up everything can go back to how it was and things will be perfect again."

"No!" I yelled this time, my anger hitting me full force at his words. "I don't _want _things to go back to how they were! I'm sorry to ruin your perfect little circle of friends but it's not happening! I don't _want_ to be Mitchie's best friend anymore! It doesn't matter what you say. It's. Not. Happening."

It was silent for a few moments – aside from my heavy breathing – before Shane let out a low whistle. "I don't know what the heck you did to him Mitch, but hopefully you'll be able to fix it."

"I hope so too," she responded quietly.

After that Jason, Caitlyn and Shane regained their happy moods and chattered away to each other. Mitchie and I remained silent, lost in our own thoughts. It was a pretty unfortunate turn of events when Shane ended up being the first one dropped off. I looked away as he gave her a kiss goodnight before climbing out of the car.

"Shot gun!" Jason called as soon as Shane was out of the car. With no more warning he was scrambling to crawl up to the front seat, managing to kick Caitlyn and me several times on the way. You've got to love alcohol and it's ability to make a twenty-six year old crawl through a car like a six year old instead. Mitchie laughed lightly and helped him through. Once seated he turned back towards us smiling brightly. "Sorry guys!"

"Jason turn around and put your seatbelt on!" Mitchie scolded.

"But I want to talk to them," he pouted, turning to face the front.

"You can talk to them with your seat belt on," she rose an eyebrow. "It's not some magical silencing strap Jase, just a safety one."

With more grumbling Jason buckled his seat belt and twisted around to be able to see us all. He grinned as he looked at Caitlyn then turned to Mitchie. "You missed out on a really good time tonight Mitchie."

"I heard," she pouted.

"Shane, Jason and I were dancing up a storm," Caitlyn laughed.

"That does sound like I good time," she said dejectedly. I wasn't sure what Caitlyn and Jason were up to, but they had to be up to something. Even drunk they weren't known to be cruel enough to rub this all in her face.

"You missed some fun times with us too Nate," Caitlyn turned to me. Then she giggled. "Of course, you seemed to be having your own good time."

I glared at her. "Shut up Caitlyn."

"Well you did," Jason turned more towards me. "You were laughing up a storm with those girls you were sitting with."

"Shut up," I gritted out turning my glare to him now. I could see Mitchie frowning out of the corner of my eye.

"And that one girl you brought to hang out with us," Caitlyn went on, "what was her name again?"

"Alexis," Jason filled in.

"Yeah that was it. Alexis was pretty cool and she was pretty."

Mitchie's frown intensified and my anger increased. They were doing this on purpose. I couldn't believe it.

"Knock it off!" I rose my voice. They both flinched away from me but laughed. "I know damn well you didn't like Alexis." I told Caitlyn. "And I know exactly what you two are trying to do right now and it's not okay!"

"We're not trying to do anything," Caitlyn smirked. "Except tell Mitchie how our night was."

"Well maybe she doesn't want to know."

"Fine," Caitlyn said, making a big show of rolling her eyes and turning to face Mitchie. "Do you want to hear how our night went?"

I tried to shake my head at Mitchie, signalling her to say no, but she ignored me.

"Of course I want to hear."

I groaned and let my head fall back as I turned back to the window, wishing I could be outside instead of trapped in this car. Caitlyn and Jason went on to tell Mitchie random points throughout the night. I listened half-heartedly and noticed they didn't tell any story that involved just the four of us. It was the three of them - meaning I was off with other people - or one where an additional girl was involved. I don't know why Mitchie put herself through that when it was obvious she had no desire to hear it. She was only too eager when she pulled up outside Caitlyn's to drop her off.

"Night!" Caitlyn called to all of us as she slammed the car door behind her. She made her way around to the passenger's side of the car and Jason rolled down his window to talk to her. "We still on for lunch Wednesday?"

He grinned at her. "Absolutely!"

"Did you want to come Nate?" she asked, sticking her head in the window and looking back at me.

"I don't really want to go anywhere with you right now." I shook my head.

"Well of course silly," she rolled her eyes. "I'm asking about Wednesday, not right now."

"I'm busy," I said shortly.

"Your loss, maybe Shane'll come," she shrugged before hugging Jason through the window and calling goodbye once more.

I was more pissed off as Mitchie started driving away from Caitlyn's. I didn't miss the fact that she made a show of inviting everyone except Mitchie right in front of her. I didn't know what games she thought she was playing tonight but I wasn't happy about them. At this point I'm ready to just ditch all my friends and go live my life as a loner for awhile. Or maybe I need to make all new friends. Ones who have no idea about the messy situation I'd be leaving behind and I wouldn't have to worry so much to be around anymore. I'm having so many damn mood swings it's not even funny. I don't want to be around Shane as he keeps trying to talk me into making up with Mitchie. I don't want to be around Caitlyn and Jason who seemed to decide torturing Mitchie and me both was a good decision. And I certainly didn't want to be around Mitchie. Well, I'd love to be around her, but I can't be. I'm standing my ground with her.

I'm not really sure why I was surprised when Jason was the next one dropped off. Not only did he live closer to Caitlyn then I did, but also Mitchie obviously was getting the most problematic people out of the car first. Isn't this just wonderful? Once he was gone Mitchie turned back to face me.

"Did you want to sit up front?"

"No," I said simply. "I'm fine right here." And I was. I didn't want to be any closer to her than I was right now. It was bad enough that I was alone in the car with her. She sighed and turned to face the front again. I briefly considered getting out of the car and walking from here despite the length I'd have to go but she was driving again before I could make a decision.

"So it sounds like you had a good time tonight."

"Yeah," I said vaguely. "It was okay."

"You met a girl?"

"I met alot of girls," I shrugged before realizing how rude that sounded. I quickly tried to fix it. "I met a lot of people in general, but you know, there were some fans and stuff that were girls." And that was true, there were fans there. That doesn't mean that was how I met Alexis and her friends, but it softened the blow of my first words at least.

It was quiet for a long pause before she spoke again. "You had fun though? With these girls?" I shrugged but didn't respond so she went on. "I'm still going to break up with him you know."

"Good, you need to," I said looking out the window instead of at her. "Caitlyn's still going to tell him if you don't do it so I'd get a move on if I were you."

"Do you think… well… do you think you'd be able to forgive me if I did?"

"If I don't are you going to decide not to do it?" I rose an eyebrow and turned to her.

"Of course not," she said quickly. "I'm still going to. I just, well, I wanted to know if I blew everything with you or if I still had a chance."

"I don't know," I shrugged again. "A part of me really hates you, you know," I started to explain. I'm not sure why, but I felt like I needed to get out all the thoughts that have been in my head lately. "A bigger part of me loves you, but a part of me does hate you, or, maybe not hate, but resent. If you never told Caitlyn… well, things would be different right now. If you just kept denying like I was doing things would be different. And that makes me hate Caitlyn too a bit. I know I'm the one who's been going to her when I needed to talk about all the stuff between us, but she's been pushing reactions out of you I've never seen before."

"I told you why I've been reacting like that to Caitlyn," she put in quickly when I paused.

"I know you did," I laughed. "Like I could date Caitlyn. She annoys me at the best of times." We pulled up to a traffic light then and I undid my seat belt and opened the door.

"What are you doing?" she asked alarmed. "We've still got five minutes before we're at your house."

"Chill," I laughed, opening the passenger's side front door. "I'm just moving up front."

"Oh," she smiled lightly at me.

"I'm still mad at you though," I told her quickly, before she got any ideas.

"Okay," she sighed. "Will you think about forgiving me though? I'll do whatever you want me to do if you just forgive me. Except break up with Shane, because I'm already doing that."

"I'll think about it," I nodded. "Can you just get me home though? I'm sure I'm going to crash soon."

* * *

**A/N:** I'm a bit torn about where it's going from here. I know the end result I need (want) to reach, but there are two paths I can take to get there. As soon as I figure that out I'll update again. I do plan on that being soon though, no worries. I'll get to work on that in the near future, but the Academy of Country Music Awards are on right now, so I'm going to watch that. :)


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N:** A million thank yous once again to _suburbs_, who read this chapter over twice for me and helped me fix the first draft up with a few suggestions. Everyone else, sorry about the long wait again. I just don't know what's wrong with me. Fortunately (and unfortunately) I got a pretty intense sunburn over the weekend at my camp so I had to stay inside and avoid the sun and that got you updates. I guess you can thank my stupidity for never (ever) remembering sunblock.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

The first thing I did when I woke up that next morning was call and request some emergency time off. Okay, that was the second thing; the first was taking some painkillers for my headache, but that's beside the point. It took a lot of arguing and persuading but I finally managed to talk them into giving us a break for the next week. We were expected to be back the following Monday ready to go. By the time that was settled the painkillers had started to kick in and I was moving around my room packing my bag. I was just finishing packing when I dialed Shane's number and hit the speakerphone button on my cell.

"Hello?" he answered sounding very much like he was suffering from a hangover, though it couldn't have been anywhere near as bad as mine.

"Hey," I said quickly, speaking loud enough to be heard clearly. "Sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to tell you that we have the next week off."

"Seriously?" Despite his suffering tone I could tell he was excited at the idea of a full week with nothing to do. At least he'd get some good out of this too.

"Yeah," I sighed. "I'm in a bit of a hurry so can you just pass the news on to Jason for me?"

"Where are you going?"

"Uh, I was just about to hop in the shower," I half-lied. I was going to take a shower, but as soon as I was done and dressed for the day I was getting in my car and going; maybe I'd stop for breakfast along the way too. "I just thought I'd call you first so I wouldn't forget to tell you guys."

"Why the sudden time off?"

"It wasn't a really busy week anyway so I thought we could use the total downtime," I told him. If I didn't have to tell him I was leaving I wouldn't.

"Well, thanks," he sighed gratefully through the phone. "Caitlyn said something the other day about going mini-golfing so maybe I'll have time to do that with her now. And Mitchie's been pretty down lately..."

"Yeah," I said awkwardly. I knew by the way he hesitated that he wanted to ask me what exactly was up with our fight and what it would take for it to just blow over. I didn't want to give him that chance though. "Well, I've got to get in the shower then stop and grab some food before going over to Emily's house."

"Oh, right, you were in a hurry. I'll pass the message on to Jason. Tell Em I said hi."

"Will do," I nodded at my phone. "Bye."

As soon as he returned the goodbye I hung up the phone and zipped up my bag. Before I hopped in the shower, I dialed Emily quickly to make sure it was okay for me to stop over.

* * *

As uncomfortable as the place made me sometimes, I found myself pulling into the diner Caitlyn and I had visited two short mornings ago. I considered going to one of my normal haunts, but there would just be too many familiar faces. I really wanted a relatively peaceful breakfast so I could come up with some sort of plan for the week. I wasn't even sure where I was going, just that it was away from here. And away from here meant away from Mitchie and everyone else who was driving me crazy. I needed to have some serious time alone to think things through. Or maybe I just needed to spend time with someone new. I could make some new friends. Even one new friend would be nice. I just need someone who wasn't in any way related to the mess of a situation that was currently my life.

Inside was pretty busy so I found myself a seat on a stool at the end of the long counter. There were a lot of families here today and I tried to sit as far away from the ones with kids as possible. It's not that I don't like dealing with fans, but I didn't feel up to it right now. I was staring down at the counter when suddenly a menu appeared in front of my eyes. I blinked and looked up to find a vaguely familiar face staring back at me.**  
**  
"Hi," the girl said with a smile. I could tell by the slightly widened eyes that she recognized me and I really appreciated her not going crazy on me. "What can I get you to drink?"

"Orange juice please," I mumbled. "A large one. And maybe some milk too."

"Thirsty?" she laughed.

"A bit," I gave her a half smile.

She nodded and turned away from me, grabbing two large cups and propping them up under different dispensers. I heard my ringtone and dug my phone out of my jacket pocket. JASON the screen read. I contemplated answering it for a moment before hitting ignore and setting the phone on the counter next to me. The waitress turned back to me with my drinks of choice.**  
**  
"One large OJ and some milk too for Mister Nate Thompson," she smiled again, setting them before me.

"You look really familiar," I said to her, cocking my head to the side and ignoring the voicemail alert. "Did I meet you recently?"

"Yes!" she said excitedly, her eyes widening a bit more at the recognition. "At the mall a week ago! You signed my new shirt!"

"Oh!" I said. That day seemed so long ago - was it really only a week?"It was, um, Angela right?"

I swear she almost squealed and I gave her real credit for holding it in. "You remember my name?"

"I do," I nodded. "I hear you met Shane the next day too?"

"Yes," she gushed. "He wasn't quite as eager to sign my shirt as you had been, but I guess that's my own fault. I did interrupt his lunch with that Mitchie girl he's been dating."

"Shane can be grumpy when he doesn't get his food requirements," I chuckled, recalling a memory or two. I didn't even want to acknowledge the end of her sentence.

"How'd you know I met him?" she asked as she grabbed the coffeepot and started filling the cups along this half of the counter. "Did he complain about some annoying fan who bugged him to sign her shirt next to your signature?"

"Nope," I shook my head, smiling at her description of herself. "It was Mitchie who mentioned it. Apparently someone told her they thought Caitlyn was my girlfriend."

Angela looked down sheepishly. "Sorry," she mumbled, putting the pot back on the burner. "I was just wondering really. That didn't get you in trouble or anything did it?"

"A bit," I nodded. "I had to answer the 'are you secretly dating Caitlyn and not telling me?' questions. They weren't too fun."

"Sorry," she blushed.

"No harm done," I said to cheer her up. No need to tell her the truth – that her innocent question had wreaked havoc in my life. It's not like she meant to play the small role she did in everything snowballing out of control. And it probably would have happened anyway, even without her help.

"Well hey," she said suddenly. "I'll let you look over that menu and I'll be back in a few minutes. I really need to check on the other half of the counter. It's my territory today."

I nodded, smiled my thanks and looked down at the menu. My text message alert chimed. It was from Jason. He must think I didn't hear his call** -**or his voicemail. I stared back at the menu but didn't really see it. Everytime I tried to concentrate on the words in front of me my thoughts drifted back to what I had overheard Jason and Caitlyn talking about last night. "She's been really down on herself and she just doesn't see what Nate could see in someone like her right now." I couldn't believe I hadn't seen that coming. Of course she'd doubt herself. She was cheating on her boyfriend. I know she'd never do that to me; it's different with us. Clearly she doesn't know that I know she wouldn't do that to me. Maybe she thinks if she's done it once she'll do it again. She won't though. I just know she won't.

"So you ready to order?" Angela's perky voice broke through my thoughts.

"No," I laughed, "I don't think I ever will be though. Why don't you just order me whatever your favorite thing to get is?"

"Are you sure you want to do that? I eat some weird food combinations."

"If you like it I'll give it a try."

"You're pretty cool, you know that?"

"It's because of my dancing right?" I joked, remembering the way she'd loved being teased about it a week ago.

"Absolutely," she smirked back at me, her cheeks only turning a slight pink. She left to place my order – whatever that would end up being – and I laughed to myself. I liked her. Maybe she could be the new friend I felt I needed.

When my food was brought out a short time later I was prepared for some really wacky dish. Instead I was presented with pancakes. They were kind of weird, but not even close to as weird as I had expected based on her comments; they were blueberry pancakes with hot chocolate sauce over the top, strawberries set on that and whipped cream sprayed all over. They came with a side of bacon and sausage drowned in maple syrup. I looked up to Angela and saw her watching for my reaction. I figured she was prepared to have to take it back and get me something else.

"This actually looks really good," I admitted to her.

"Damn," she muttered, just as my phone chimed, signaling another new text message. "I was hoping you wouldn't like it. Then I could eat it."

"Gonna have to get your own. I don't intend to give this up." I laughed and smirked at her while I glanced at my phone screen quickly to see the message was from Caitlyn. I didn't open it.

When I looked back up Angela wore a playful pout and produced another plate with a typical egg, meat, potato and toast breakfast. "I guess I'll have to eat this one then." She grabbed some silverware and hesitated. "Do you mind if I sit here? You won't have to talk to me if you don't want to. I usually just sit at the end of the counter on my break."

"Not a problem," I smiled at her. What else could I say? 'Yes, I mind if you sit by me. Go sit somewhere else!' Yeah right. Besides, she was all right. This whole week I hadn't had someone I could just joke and talk with. Once she was situated beside me I turned to her. "So how long have you worked here?"

"I guess you could say a long time," she grinned as my phone went off again. "My parents own this place so I've been working here weekends for years now."

"Oh, you only work on the weekends?" I asked, glancing at Mitchie's name on my phone and cutting into my pancakes.

"Well you're certainly in high demand this morning," she commented with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, my friends keep sending messages," I nodded, just as my voicemail tone chimed again.

"You aren't answering anyone," she observed.

"I'm not," I shook my head.

"Well why not? I'd think you'd want to talk to your friends."

I almost laughed out loud. You would think a person would want to talk to their friends, but not me. And I couldn't exactly tell her I was running away from my life to avoid having to talk to them.

"I'm talking to you," I said instead, "that'd be rude." I could tell she was about to say something that would just make me look like a jerk for not answering my phone so I quickly changed the subject back to what we were previously talking about. "So you said you only work on the weekends?"

"Yeah," she nodded, eyeing me curiously but not pushing the matter. "I don't really need to, but I like to shop. The extra spending money's nice." She watched me take my first topping-filled bite; "You want to give that up now?"

I swallowed and laughed. "You want this that bad?"

"It is my favorite," she sighed.

"Fine," I rolled my eyes. I did actually love the sweet combination, but wouldn't mind giving it up for those crispy potato squares. "Pass that plate over here."

"I'm just kidding," she shook her head. "You eat up."

"No," I pushed the plate towards her. "I've got my eye on those potatoes anyway."

"I've got an idea," she brightens up. "What if we share. Half the pancakes, half the potatoes, half everything?" She paused and looked down at her plate. "I can get an extra plate and extra potatoes too. Then we can both have all the good stuff."

"Alright," I nodded. "Why not?"

As she jumped off her stool and headed back into the kitchen I couldn't believe myself. Since when do I share food with a girl I barely knew?

Angela was very easy to talk to and when the time came for me to pay my bill (including a very generous tip) and leave I was surprised to find myself in a better mood. With all the drama going on I'd forgotten how nice the regular, everyday world could be. It just proved that I needed to get away. I needed to get out of this town.

* * *

After a trip to my sister's – where I was trapped for a few hours listening to her rave about a new boy she had met – I finally managed to get out on the road. A part of me felt like leaving was not a good idea and begged to go back, but the rest of me ignored it and said I needed this. I needed to get away this week. I needed to be away from my problems. I needed to be away from Caitlyn's persistent "advice", Jason's weird disapproval and encouragement mixture, Shane's lack of knowledge and Mitchie in general. I wouldn't talk to any of them. I would continue to ignore their calls and not answer their texts. This was my week.

* * *

**A/N:** I like Nate taking control of his life.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N:** I'm sorry about the wait, again. Are any of you even surprised anymore at the long waits? Sorry. :\ Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing this still despite the wait! And thank you to _suburbs._ She read through this for me once again and fixed it up a bit. She's simply amazing for all the help she consistently gives me.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

I turned over in bed again, pulling the pillow over my head. I'd been tossing, turning and squirming since I slipped between the sheets two hours ago. Every time I turned, trying to find a semi-comfortable position, a new thought popped in my head.

Of course, you couldn't really call them new as every other thought was about Mitchie. I wondered what she was doing, whom she was with, what she thought of me leaving, if she was waiting for me to come back, if she'd be excited when I did get back and so many other things. It was funny to me that when I wanted so desperately to get away from her I couldn't stop thinking about her. I thought going to a new town would give me endless other things to think about. I was wrong. As a result I couldn't wait for the week to end so I could just see her. I was glad that I was going home tomorrow.

Finally deciding I wasn't going to be getting my sleep I unburied my head with a sigh. I stared around the dark hotel room for a minute before getting out of the bed and finding my cell phone. It was time I checked all my messages. Maybe they'd be boring and put me to sleep, I thought with a laugh. I'd ignored every message that came the whole week. After a short debate I figured the best way to go through them was in order. That wouldn't be too hard seeing as it was only two voice mails and thirty-one text messages. I thought back to the day I left and remembered that it had started with Jason. He'd left a voice mail then a text. Bracing myself for the end of my break from reality I called my voicemail.

"Hey Nate, its Jason. I'm calling to say I'm sorry about last night. I shouldn't have ignored Mitchie's feelings the way that I did. Or, I guess I shouldn't have abused her feelings like that. I don't know, whatever you'd call it, I shouldn't have done it. I'm not really sure what got into me. I do regret it. I've already apologized to her. I just thought I'd say sorry to you too since you were probably mad at me last night. Give me a call back later and let me know if we're okay."

I should have known Jason would apologize. It was so unlike him to purposely hurt someone. He'd always been the one who helped cheer a person up, not bring a person down. I quickly deleted the message and hung up, switching to my text messages. The first one was from Jason.

_I forgot. Shane said you got us time off? Awesome. Want to hit up the beach this week?_

I knew the other voice message was from Mitchie. I'd been dying to hear what she had to say all week, but held strong and refused to listen to it. I knew after one more text message that it'd be time to listen to it. I guess I'd have to thank Caitlyn for texting me before she called and giving me a chance to stall longer.

_Hey, just heard from Shane about the time off. Want to do dinner tonight with us all? Let me know._

It made me kind of sad that I didn't feel the least bit surprised that Caitlyn hadn't apologize for last night like Jason had. I would have liked her to say she was sorry, but I guess that would have been too much to ask for. It's not that she was a terribly rude or hurtful person, but she felt strongly that she had to do whatever it took to get Mitchie to tell Shane the truth. Still, Mitchie and Caitlyn's friendship was going to be permanently damaged from this situation. I knew it was never going be the same again.

Like usual when thinking about one of my friends, my thoughts drifted back to Mitchie. And that made it impossible to stall any longer. I had to hear her voice mail – her voice.

"Hi… it's me… Mitchie… I was just calling to see what's up. Well, no, actually, I was calling to see where we stood exactly. It's probably not a good sign that you didn't answer my call, but you could still be sleeping so maybe it's not. I don't really know. You might not even remember our conversation depending on how much you'd had to drink last night. You didn't seem too drunk, but who knows. In case you don't remember, I'm breaking up with Shane. Today. I'm waiting to hear from him to see if he's up and functioning. Then I'm going over there to do it. I promise. I still hope you'll give me a chance, but if you don't, I understand. Please call me back when you're ready to talk to me. I love you Nate, with all my heart."

She loved me, she said, with all her heart. She was probably not feeling very good about herself considering I left and haven't called her back. She would be the first person I called when I finished going through these messages. I had known, before I even heard that message, that I still wanted to be with Mitchie. I loved her. It was as simple as that. I may not have liked some of the things she'd done recently, but I loved her. A few bad choices brought on by jealousy and insecurity weren't going to change that. And it's not like she hadn't already suffered. I had made my point clear. I'd said goodbye to her once. If I'd hurt her half as much as walking away from her had hurt me, she'd suffered enough. We'd both suffered enough.

With the thought of calling her in mind I quickly read through the rest of my text messages. It didn't take long for them to realize I wasn't going to be home anytime soon. Caitlyn got it first, or at least mentioned it first.

_Never would have pegged you as the type to run away._

Shortly after that one Shane sent me his first and only message. It was sent the morning after I had left.

_I had an interesting convo with Mitchie last night. We need to talk._

For one heart-stopping second I panicked. What if she had talked to him, but blamed it all on me? What if she said _I_ kissed _her_? How else could he just call it an "interesting convo."

I instantly hated myself for doubting Mitchie. She wouldn't throw me under the bus like that no matter what. I knew better than that. And this was Shane I was talking about. If I read the message in the right tone, it made perfect sense. Shane would have to be the first person I went to visit. I would have to sort things out with him and see if he could forgive me. I hoped he could.

Surprisingly, Jason was the one to send the message with the actual confirmation that Mitchie had broken the news to Shane. As a matter of fact, it was Jason who texted me regularly throughout the week to keep me updated, even though I never sent him a text back. He seemed to understand that I had to leave and felt he'd help by simply keeping me in the loop. Mitchie's name never crossed my screen again – neither did Shane's. Caitlyn sent me a few texts, but nothing compared to Jason's constant updates. I skimmed through them with my full attention. I was hooked on the events unfolding back home.

As it turned out, Shane was mad at everyone, but not even speaking to Caitlyn. Caitlyn was crushed. Jason and Shane patched things up easily; Jason had only known for three days after all and expressed immediate disapproval. I didn't really get that part – how could he be furious at Caitlyn, but not even mad at Jason? If anyone was consistent in his or her disapproval it had been Caitlyn. There was never a single moment when she was okay with the situation. I'd have expected Shane to be thankful to her for speeding up the process. If it weren't for Caitlyn, it would still be going on. Either way, Caitlyn sent me an angry text, blaming everything on me.

The most interesting news Jason delivered came in a text dated two days after I left. It was about Mitchie. She was gone. She had apparently decided to pull the same stunt I had. She negotiated some emergency time off, packed a bag and left town. Not even her parents knew her destination. I had to laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole thing. What would she be running away from?

And then I started to worry about her. Why had she left? Had Shane gotten harsh with her? Was she okay? Did she know where she was going? What if she got lost? Did she have enough money to keep her gas tank full? Enough to eat? Could she afford a nice, safe place to sleep? What if she came across some pervert who would hurt her? A young, pretty girl traveling alone could not be terribly safe.

I skimmed the rest of the messages with surprising speed and sure enough she wasn't home yet. I had to make sure she was okay. I didn't care that it was nearing half past three in the morning, I dialed her number, not even bothering to waste the time to find it in my phonebook. My heart pounded in my chest as each ring passed and I waited for her to pick up. I had a fleeting thought that maybe this is how she felt when she realized I left and guilt coursed through me. My anxiety trumped it though. She didn't answer.

"Hey you've reached Mitchie. Sorry I couldn't answer the phone, leave a message and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can."

I smiled at the sound of her cheery voice despite the situation.

"Mitchie," I breathed. "It's Nate. Please call me back as soon as you get this. I'll be back in town tomorrow, by noon at the absolute latest. I need to see you. I love you."

My nerves eased a bit as I hung up. If her phone was still on, that meant she was taking care to keep it charged. If she were dead or kidnapped, that wouldn't really be her concern I'm sure. She was probably just sleeping; it was the middle of the night. I would just have to wait to hear back from her to know for sure that she was okay.

* * *

By ten the next morning I was just outside of town. I ended up falling asleep for a few hours sometime after I called Mitchie, my phone clutched in my hand, waiting for her to call me back. She never did. I was itching to go to her house and see if she was back, but I'd promised myself I'd see Shane first. Deciding to skip stopping home all together I pulled out my cell phone and dialed Shane's number.

"_Well look who finally decided to show up_," he answered, his tone neutral.

"Are you home?" I asked. "We need to have that talk."

He scoffed, "_It's not like I have very many friends I want to hang out with these days_."

"I'll be over in ten minutes," I sighed. "Just let me in and we'll talk about it."

I went over everything I wanted to say to him in my head on the way there. Surprisingly enough, when I showed up he was waiting for me on the porch. "I've got coffee on. Let's go in the kitchen."

I nodded mutely and followed him. I watched him get out two coffee mugs and plates and set both of us up with coffee and muffins. I was surprised by the friendly gesture, but it gave me hope. He didn't look at me again until he was settled in and drank his first sip from his mug.

"Do we want to beat around the bush or just get to the point?" he asked bluntly.

"Just get to the point," I mumbled.

"How could you fall in love with my girlfriend?" he asked, looking appropriately annoyed. "We were supposed to be best friends. I was supposed to be able to trust you. Instead you run around behind my back with my girlfriend?"

"It wasn't quite like that," I defended lamely. "It's not like I was… getting physical with her."

"I know," he sighed. "She told me. Said you guys only kissed once and that it was her birthday night." He paused and looked up into my eyes. "That's what your fight was about wasn't it? That's why you weren't talking to her?"

I nodded. "I never would have crossed that line Shane. I thought she'd broken up with you. Not that it's any better that I was hoping she'd dumped you, but I never _knowingly_ would have kissed your girlfriend."

"I know that," he laughed bitterly. "I've been sitting here all week thinking it through. It was smart of you to leave. If you were here right after I found out… well, I wouldn't be quite so mellow about it. As it is, I've only been talking to Jason this week really so I had a lot of free time to think."

My first instinct was to ask why he wasn't speaking to Caitlyn, but I needed to fight to clear my own name before anyone else's.

"I know I was an ass of a friend. I would have deserved to face you all worked up." I paused, not sure what to say to prove it. I laughed to myself as I thought of just what I had to say. "You can punch me if you want. You can beat the crap right out of me. I deserve it.

He looked at me, as if considering this option, maybe imagining it in his mind, before shaking his head. "I don't want to fight you Nate."

"Okay," I nodded. "What do you want to do?"

He opened his mouth to answer then paused. He shut his eyes for a moment then opened them and looked straight into mine. "I want to hear you tell me why."

"Why what?" I asked right away, eager to do what I could to salvage our friendship.

"Why anything," he shrugged lightly. "Why'd you fall in love with my girlfriend? Why'd she fall in love with you? No, here's what I really want to know - why did you let it get to the point it did? If things were the other way around I never would have done this to you."

I hung my head, ashamed. "This wasn't something I did intentionally Shane. I wasn't sitting around bored one day and decided "hey, why not do something to damage my friendship? It'll be fun". You need to understand that. She was always around though, always there to spend time with. Do you remember how I didn't even like her? How I couldn't stand her being around so much and you all but begged me to try getting along with her?"

"I remember," he laughed. "It cost me a new guitar case to get you to agree." He paused and laughed again, this time the noise was a bitter sound. "Apparently the case wasn't enough."

I winced and continued explaining. "I started to like her, then love her. I really tried to get over it though, honest. Remember Jenny?"

"Jenny," he repeated slowly, processing this. "Jenny was supposed to help you get over Mitchie?"

"Yes."

"Jenny was a year and a half ago!"

"It's been a long road leading up to now," I said quietly. I started to pick at my muffin while I waited for him to think this over and say something. I couldn't figure out what was going on in his head today. He was being friendlier than I was expecting. I walked into this fully prepared for fighting and screaming. I was expecting to walk away from this mentally beaten. The sad thing was that I felt worse simply because he wasn't yelling.

"I spoke too soon," Shane said suddenly. "Maybe I do want to hit you."

Despite the seriousness of the moment, I found this hilarious. So much so I started to laugh loudly startling Shane. He tried not to laugh along as he scolded, "Be considerate of my feelings Nate. I'm trying to be angry with you here."

It didn't take long for me to stop laughing, but by the time I did Shane was smirking amusedly. "Okay, so maybe I don't want to hit you, but you need to keep explaining. I just want to understand."

I nodded and carefully worked my way into the next part. "I started to love Mitchie a long time ago obviously, but I never acted on it. I talked to my brother and sister about it, hoping for some helpful advice, but I didn't tell anyone else." I paused and took a deep breath, knowing I had to choose my words carefully. "Eventually I started to notice something that gave me hope. It was a shift, a barely perceptive one, but a shift all the same. You guys started to stop."

"Started to stop?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes."

"Started to stop what?"

"Started to stop loving each other," I said simply.

He scoffed, "I still love Mitchie."

"I know you do. You always will, just not the same way anymore. You guys stopped spending as much time together."

He didn't confirm or deny my accusations. Instead he asked, "What makes you so sure of this _shift_?"

I smiled; sure I was getting through to him now. I didn't need him to admit it to know I was right, but it would help if he did. "You started to hang out with each other because it's what you were supposed to do. You didn't always want to anymore, but felt obligated."

Shane blinked. "Just because I wanted to do things with other people doesn't mean I didn't love her anymore. There is no rule that says when you date someone that you have to spend all your time with them."

"I know, I know," I said hastily, not wanting him to get worked up. "That was just the start. The less you wanted to do things with her though the more she started calling Jason and me to pass the time. Do you see where I'm going?"

"Unfortunately, yes. The more time you spent with her the more you fell."

"Exactly," I nodded.

"What I don't see is how _she_ ended up falling in love with _you_."

"I got lucky," I smiled. He raised an eyebrow at me and I quickly back tracked. "I mean, you know, she must have just-"

"Forget it," he cut me off – much to my relief. "I know what you meant. I remember what it's like to fall in love and have the girl love you back. You're right though. I don't love her like I used to. I don't think I have for a long time."

Not sure how to respond to that I concentrated on refilling my mug. After a couple more minutes of silence I finally started to ask the important questions. "You think we'll get through this and work our friendship out?"

He turned to me and tilted his head. "I thought the coffee and muffins would have shown I'm not entirely pissed at you. It'll take awhile, believe me, but we'll get back on track I think. We're best friends Nate."

"Yeah, but I was a terrible friend."

"Most everyone makes a big mistake in their friendships sometime. We know I've made mine. This is yours. "

I nodded and asked another question. "Do you think… will you be mad if I say I want to be with Mitchie?"

"I think I'd be more upset if you said you didn't," he laughed.

"What?" I blinked.

"Why go through all this fighting if you aren't even going to be with her? That would be pointless. I know our friendship has always meant a lot to you. If you're willing to risk it for her, you better really want to be with her."

"I do," I breathed. "I really do."

"Okay," he nodded.

"So it's okay?"

"I'm not your mom Nate; you don't need my permission."

"I know I don't. And I'd be with her either way to be honest," I shrugged.

"So why ask?"

"Just wanted to see where you stand."

"I had several long talks with Jason this week. I stand where you want me to."

"Jason?" I asked surprised.

"Yeah, he brought me from pissed off to mildly angry and annoyed. Trust me, I was not this easy going about it last Sunday."

"I'll have to thank him."

"You should."

Now that I felt we were on better terms I tried helping Caitlyn out. "You know, all week Caitlyn's been on my case about telling you. Mitchie's too. I'm not even sure their friendship is repairable anymore. She really fought for you." Shane nodded stiffly in acknowledgement. "Just think it over you know. You shouldn't be mad at her."

* * *

**A/N:** I can tell you now it'll be a bit of a wait again for the next chapter. I need to update _You've Got a Friend_ and I'm only a few paragraphs into the next chapter. I really need to update that though, so I can finish it.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N:** I never did finish my chapter for 'You've Got a Friend' – and that's my next goal – but I had some free time and the idea for this begging to be written. I'm trying to finish this one so I can start to work on 'It Doesn't Bother Me' once again.

A million thank yous to _faerietaleredux_ – who in _suburbs_ absence read through this chapter for me and made a few helpful suggestions. Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

By the time I left Shane's I was in a better mood. Things between us were far from perfect, but they were on their way to being okay again. He'd admitted to being pretty harsh with Mitchie at the time, but I couldn't really blame him for that. To his credit he was genuinely worried that no one had heard from her. It was so unlike her to just take off – then again, it was unlike me too.

After I left Shane's I went straight home to drop my bags off and tried to figure out my next step. I hadn't heard from Mitchie and I was anxious, but if she wasn't home there was really nothing I could do. I did still have to thank Jason and try to work things out with Caitlyn. I wasn't sure whom to start with so I just went with the obvious and called Mitchie. She still didn't answer.

"Hey Mitch. I just wanted to let you know I was back in town. You know, in case you were too and wanted to see me. I still want to see you. Let me know when I can do that. I love you."

I waited about ten minutes after I hung up with her voicemail to see if she'd call me back but she didn't. With a sigh I moved on and dialed Jason.

"Hey buddy!" he answered happily. "Are you finally home now?"

"Hey Jase," I said, laughing lightly at his excitement. "Yeah, I'm back."

"Where'd you go? Did you have fun? Did you miss me?"

"Sure I missed you," I smiled into the phone. I really had missed Jason and his cheery mood. "But look, before I tell you about my week I want to say thanks."

"Oh it's no problem. I knew you'd want to stay updated."

"Not for that Jason, for Shane. Thanks for helping him out."

"Well of course I helped him out," Jason replied. "He's one of my best friends and he was upset. You don't have to thank me for _that_."

"Yeah, but whatever you said made him a lot more calm when I saw him."

"So you've talked to him?"

"Yup, just got home from there actually."

"And it went okay?" he asked hopefully. "You guys are good?"

"We will be."

"Good," he sighed. "I would hate to have to break up a fight between you guys." He paused for a moment. "And Mitchie? Have you talked to her? Was she with you?"

"No," I answered dejectedly. "She wasn't with me and she hasn't answered my calls."

"Mine either," he said sadly. "Hang in there though. You came back and called and so will she."

I smiled. Jason always did know what to say to cheer a person up. "So anyway," I changed the subject. "I was calling to see if you wanted to do a late lunch today. We could catch up then."

"I could definitely fit you in," he laughed. "Just name the time and place."

By the time we decided everything I had about an hour and a half to see Caitlyn and then meet Jason. I sent her a text and told her I was coming over and fifteen minutes later I was on her doorstep, waiting for her to answer. When she did, she was less than happy to see me.

"Oh look who it is," she answered the door. "My absolute _favorite _person right now!"

"Gee Caitlyn, don't hold back the sarcasm so much next time," I joked to try and lighten the mood. It worked as her lips pulled back into a brief smirk.

"What do you want then?"

"Can I come in?"

"I guess," she sighed heavily, like it was a huge burden. Once we were seated in the living room she repeated her question. "So what do you want?"

"To say sorry."

"Sorry?" she raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's my fault you got mixed up in everything to begin with and now Shane's mad at you for no reason."

"Are you blind Nate?" she said sharply, surprising me. "Of course he has a reason! I should have told him! I should have told him as soon as I found out. I never should have kept something like this from him." She paused and took a deep breath to prevent herself from getting too upset. "I wanted to tell him Nate. There were so many times I could have told him – _should_ have told him. And I didn't. I couldn't. I just didn't know how to tell him. And now he has every right to be angry with me."

I blinked several times as I tried to process this. The utter dejection in her tone surprised me most and it took many seconds to wrap my head around it. And this wasn't her fault. She was being way too hard on herself. It wasn't her secret to tell. It wasn't her duty to confess. I was just starting to form a reply to tell her how wrong she was when the doorbell rang. She got up to answer it and I could hear her greeting whoever it was.

"Hi," she said sounding surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you," Shane's voice answered. "I see that Nate's here, but can I come in too?"

"Absolutely!" Caitlyn said at once. A moment later I heard the door click shut and they were entering the living room.

"Long time no see," Shane nodded at me with a half smile.

"It's been ages," I replied with my own little smile.

Caitlyn looked between us curiously. "You two aren't fighting?"

"Not really," Shane shook his head, sitting down on the armchair across from me. "He came over this morning and we talked for a couple hours. Which is why I'm here," he sighed, turning to face Caitlyn fully. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"Sorry?" she asked, the uncertianty in her tone a great contrast to how she spoke to me.

"Yeah," he smiled. "I've been thinking about what Nate said and realized he must be right. Why else would you and Mitchie have been at odds all week? And I guess I shouldn't have expected you to tell me."

Caitlyn looked to me as she asked him, "What did Nate say?"

Shane shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "Basically that I shouldn't be mad at you and that you fought the hardest that I be told the truth."

"I did," Caitlyn spoke up right away. "I really did, but I should have told you myself."

Shane shook his head. "I never would have believed you if you did anyway. Not that I don't trust you Caity," he corrected quickly at her fallen face. "I do trust you. It's just not the kind of thing I would have believed from anyone but them."

Caitlyn nodded in understanding. "So we're okay?"

"We're okay," he smiled at her. She sighed in relief and moved to hug him. Something about the hug made me uncomfortable. It could have been the way her head nestled into the crook of his neck with such familiarity or maybe the way they held on for so long. I wasn't sure, but something made me feel like I was intruding on something private. Apparently they really were better friends than I knew. I shifted uncomfortably on my cushion and they broke apart a moment later. Caitlyn sat back in her seat and beamed at me.

"Thanks for speaking up for me. Guess I can't stay mad at you now."

She came to hug me and I couldn't help but be relieved at the differences in the gestures. My hug was much briefer and far less cozy as well. My first reaction was to analyze the situation, but I decided to hold off on that since I was much more interested in all our friendships being mended. Everything seemed to be falling into place and it gave me hope. Once we were all situated again Shane turned to me.

"So you hear from her?"

I shook my head. "I called, but she didn't answer."

"Who? Mitchie?" Caitlyn asked curiously.

"Yup," Shane answered. "No one knows where she is or when she'll be back."

"She'll be back tonight," Caitlyn said positively. "Early tomorrow morning at the latest."

"How do you know?" I asked sitting up eagerly.

"Unlike the rest of you fools I actually had to work this week," she said in mock annoyance. "But like you two she's due back at work and ready to go tomorrow morning too." I smiled at the thought of seeing her in the studio tomorrow as Caitlyn went on. "She's got to be in early to make up for the time she lost so she should be back tonight. I have no idea what I'm going to do when I see her tomorrow though," she groaned. "I can't avoid her forever."

"Everything will work out eventually," Shane soothed. "We're all too close for our own good."

"We're all too _something _for our own good," Caitlyn laughed. "While I have you here though," she turned to Shane, "are we back on for breakfast? It was weird eating alone everyday this week."

"I'm there," Shane nodded.

* * *

I was five minutes from home and I couldn't wait to just make it there. It had been a long day so far considering the short amount of sleep I'd gotten. I'd stayed and talked to Caitlyn and Shane until I had to make my way to lunch. The conversation between Shane and me had been a bit tense, but Caitlyn eased the situation greatly. Lunch had luckily been a much easier conversation. There was no tension or discomfort as I sat and caught up with Jason. We discussed everything from what we did all week to Shane and Caitlyn making up. Jason said he understood why Shane reacted the way he had to Caitlyn's involvement, but refused to share his thoughts on the subject. I was too tired to try pushing him on it and shortly after we'd left.

Now I had every intention of taking both my home and cell phone in my room with me and napping until Mitchie decided to call me back – assuming she would of course. My foot on the gas neared the floor at the thought of my large, comfortable bed waiting for me; it would be a much welcome switch from the stiff hotel mattresses I'd been sleeping on all week. I turned onto my street and broke into a grin as my house came into view. All thoughts of sleep left my head and were replaced with one thing – _Mitchie was here!_

In seconds I'd parked and exited my car. I ran up to her with a big smile on my face and pulled her into a tight hug. "You're okay," I breathed. "I was worried about you." She hugged me back but didn't answer me. I took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet scent of her favorite perfume. "Gosh, I missed you. Let's go inside and talk." I pulled back and grabbed her hand as I headed towards the front door. The smile didn't leave my face until I was several steps away and her hand slipped out of mine – she wasn't following me. "Mitchie?" I asked turning back around with a slight frown. "What's wrong? Don't you want to come in?"

"Nate," she said and her eyes watered just the slightest bit. I was back to her in an instant, wrapping her in my arms.

"What's wrong Mitchie?" I asked slightly panicked. "What's wrong?"

"I don't… I don't know," she sniffled. "I just…"

She trailed off and I tried to comfort her. "Shh, it's okay Mitch. Whatever it is, it's okay." I kept whispering comforting words to her while she tried to stop crying. It took several minutes, but eventually she stepped back and gave me a half smile. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Nothing's wrong. I don't know why I was crying. I just-" she hesitated. "Are you really happy to see me?"

"Of course I am!" I chuckled. "Didn't you get my messages?"

"Yeah," she said slowly, "after a week of not hearing from you."

"Oh," I said, letting that sink in. "Let's go inside and talk Mitchie. We've got a lot to discuss."

* * *

**A/N:** Next update probably won't be for another week or two. Sorry, but I _am_ trying to find writing time whenever I can.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: **I know, it's been almost two months. I'm pretty terrible. I get too many other ideas and start writing them when I should be working on this. I apologize. And unfortunately I can't guaranteed when to expect the next chapter. I'd like to say soon, but you never know what will come up. It's been a drama-filled few weeks for me. If you're still reading this, a million thank yous.

Special thanks to _suburbs_, who once again BETA read this before I decided to post it. She's awesome. And she also helped me set in stone how I want things to happen after this chapter. I think that'll help me write it faster (I hope)! Thank you!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

On the way inside I kept my arm around Mitchie. I couldn't say if it was still in attempt to comfort her or if I was just selfish enough that I didn't want to let go. Either way, when she moved to sit on the couch I followed. Being able to sit with my arms around her without feeling guilty was wonderful. Screw talking things out, I was pretty sure I'd be content to sit that way forever. Anything that had happened buried itself in my mind in that moment and I was able to pretend we were okay. Unfortunately she had other ideas.

"So," she said slowly, sitting up and facing me.

"So," I sighed, not wanting to break the peaceful silence and have this conversation.

"Where do we start?"

"I was pretty comfortable with just holding you."

Her lips pulled back in a small smile before she hid it. "We need to talk about what's been going on Nate. I did a heck of a lot of thinking this week and I have some things I need to tell you."

My mind went into overdrive. What did she have to tell me? Was she changing her mind about me? About us? Did something happen while she was gone? Oh god, please don't say she met someone else. I wouldn't be able to handle another guy snatching her up when I finally had my chance. If I missed out because I left I'd never forgive myself.

"Calm down," she said softly, wrapping a hand around my neck and running her thumb over my cheek. "I can tell you're over thinking this." I took a deep breath and some tension left my body under her touch. "Wait until you actually hear what I have to say before you react."

"Alright," I said. "Should I go first or let you?"

"I think I should," she bit her lip. "I have far more to make up for than you do."

"Alright," I nodded.

"I broke up with Shane and that was a mess. So I came to you – I came to your house – you were gone and no one had heard from you all afternoon. I couldn't believe you just took off on me. So I went to stay with my cousin for a few days. She gave me a lot of hell after I told her everything that's been happening. I don't think-" she paused. It looked like she was struggling with what to say. "She tore into me pretty bad for several hours. I think her being completely uninvolved and still blowing up at me like Caitlyn did made me really understand just how awful I was – am."

"You're not awful Mitchie," I said softly.

"I am though Nate. And that's okay. I understand it now. Caitlyn should be mad at me. So should anyone else. I don't blame a single person for being mad at me. And if Caitlyn hates me – she should."

There was something in the way she was talking that I didn't like. I had no idea where she was going with this and I was getting anxious. I didn't want to rush her because I knew she needed to get it all out, but it was kind of like a slow building torture.

"So I locked myself away with a radio, a hot bath and my thoughts. And I decided something." She looked like she was gearing herself up for something big and I tensed, not sure if big was good or bad. "I don't think you should be with me."

I blinked in shock before it actually sank in. "You don't think I should be with you?" I asked angrily. "What the _hell_ kind of a decision is that? What's this all been for if I don't even get you in the end?"

"It's for the best Nate," she said quietly.

"Who's best?" I snapped, standing from the couch.

"Yours," she said firmly. "I'm no good for you Nate."

"Oh please," I rolled my eyes.

"You don't deserve someone like me Nate," she said sadly, hers eyes watering at her own words. "You deserve the best."

"You _are _the best Mitchie," I said stepping up in front of her and pulling her to her feet. "You're the best for me and I love you. I want to be with you."

"But Nate, I'm not good enough for you."

"Do you love me?" I demanded.

"Of course I do," she scowled.

"And do you want to be with me?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then that's all that matters," I firmly cut her off. "We're going to be together." I leaned forward and captured her lips in a kiss. If I had thought kissing her had been great when I'd been drinking then I couldn't even begin to describe kissing Mitchie at that moment.

* * *

We were supposed to be in a meeting working out the kinks of a possible next album but it was pushed back an hour because Shane was late. You would think that with all the free time he'd had last week he'd manage to make it into work on time – apparently not though. Actually, Caitlyn wasn't anywhere around either and I assumed they had gone for breakfast. I was glad they weren't still fighting because of something involving me, but that didn't mean Shane could be half an hour late for something as important as a meeting. The only good thing about it was that I could spend the time I was waiting watching Mitchie record. She'd finally come around to everyone's pestering and was recording her first album after years of hesitation.

It pretty much made my day when I popped my head in the studio and she beamed her gorgeous smile at me. It seemed like things were finally on a good, healthy track with us – we were tired, but healthy. She had been over late last night before we both realized we had to work early and reluctantly separated. Tonight we decided we were going to do something date-like. It wouldn't really be any different than us just going out and spending time together like we had before, but now we weren't worried about Shane. Mitchie had been surprised when I'd told her he was okay with us dating, but that was what it finally took to get her to stop resisting and be with me like she wanted to be.

"How's she doing?" I asked her manager, Jon, who was observing from the back of the room.

"Good," he nodded. "Rough start this morning, but once she got some caffeine in her she's been doing great." He fell silent and we both listened as she belted out lyrics. Jon smiled and glanced at me as she hit a perfect high note. "I don't know what you all did with your time off, but whatever it is I'm thankful."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"She's doing so much better than before she took time off," he said seriously. "She was in some sort of funk for a little bit there and just about everything we recorded wasn't working. Here she is now though in tip top shape."

I smiled to myself, hoping that maybe I had something to do with her getting out of that funk. We listened to her sing more before my phone buzzed and I excused myself. It was Jason and I was hoping that meant he'd gotten a hold of Shane.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Hey," he said happily. "I just saw Shane's car pull in the parking lot so he'll be here anytime now.

"Alright thanks," I sighed. "I'll head to the lobby now. We can meet up there."

"See you in a few," he said before hanging up the phone. I quickly called our manager to deliver the news that Shane had arrived and the meeting would definitely be a go. By the time I reached the lobby Jason was waiting just beside the doors and Shane wasn't anywhere in sight.

"He hasn't come in yet?" I asked.

"Nope," Jason shook his head. "Not unless he ran from the car to here in the minute and a half it took me to get here."

I nodded and turned to look out the door in time to see Shane and Caitlyn headed across the lot. Their arms were loaded with folders and Shane was laughing at something Caitlyn said while she smirked over at him. I watched them interact and it dawned on me how close they really were. How could I have ever missed it? If I'd ever even paid an ounce of attention to them I would have been able to figure out they had a bond, but I guess I'd been too wrapped up in Mitchie.

"Hey," Caitlyn greeted with a smile as she walked through the door. "To what due I owe such a welcoming committee?"

"We're not here for you," I said, all business. "We're here for Shane. We need to get to our meeting - it started about forty-five minutes ago."

Shane quickly shuffled the folders in his arms to glance at his watch. His eyes widened. "What the hell happened to the past hour?" he demanded. "How did it pass so fast?"

"Oh shoot," Caitlyn blushed. "That must be my fault. I'm sorry you guys. I asked him to swing back to my house and help me grab all these papers I'd taken home to sort out. I had no idea it'd take so long."

"It's not your fault," Shane sighed. "That was quick - it was the second coffee stop we took." He mock glared at her. "Maybe you shouldn't have kept me out all night and I wouldn't have needed it."

She scoffed playfully. "You're the one who insisted you had to tag along to see that movie with me. And you knew it was going to be a total chick flick."

"Hey that movie was hilarious," he defended. "I think I laughed more than you did."

"Oh, was it that fake proposal one?" Jason spoke up excitedly. "Peggy, Ella and me saw it last week - funniest movie. I loved the part when she dances by-"

"As riveting as this is," I cut in, annoyed that everyone seemed to forget the matter at hand, "we really have to get to that meeting."

Jason sighed, "okay."

"We'll talk about it over lunch okay Jase?" Caitlyn smiled at him. Jason nodded happily and was the first to leave for the meeting.

I shook my head. "The last thing I want to do when we're on rocky grounds is boss you around, but we've got about ten minutes until we're due up there, so hurry up."

"No problem," Shane nodded. "I shouldn't have been late in the first place – sorry about that. Let me just help Caity bring this stuff where it needs to go and I'll be right there."

I nodded and said goodbye to Caitlyn before going over to the main receptionist's desk. "Hey Mel," I greeted, flashing her a quick smile. "Do you think you could let me borrow some sticky notes?"

"I guess," she sighed dramatically before winking at me to show she was joking - like always. "Which color?"

I shrugged. "Surprise me today." She nodded and opened a drawer. I always borrowed sticky notes from her before each meeting. After a minute she pulled out a fresh pad of bright pink sticky notes and smirked as she handed them to me.

I rolled my eyes. "Nice choice."

"Surprise," she laughed.

"I'll replace them tomorrow," I said backing away from the high desktop. "Thanks."

She nodded and I turned my back on her. It was a few steps before I looked up and stopped walking. Shane and Caitlyn must not have had to go that far to drop off all the folders because they were crossing the room empty handed this time. That's not what struck me though. Nor was it the fact they were walking arm in arm. What got me was the way he looked at her as she rested her other hand on his arm and laughed. The whole moment seemed out of place in their lives - they bickered and smirked and mocked, not laughed and touched and... flirted. That was really the only way to describe it. They were flirting. It was an odd concept to wrap my head around. Maybe it was just Caitlyn though - people used to think her and me would flirt too and we _definitely_ did not. I shook my thoughts when they split at the entrance to an elevator and followed Shane up to the meeting room.

* * *

**A/N:** Not very eventful, but it's to get everyone ready for the next part which will be.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N:** A lot of thanks to _suburbs_ for this chapter. If it wasn't for her not only would you not have this chapter already, but you also would be finding a bundle of errors with out her genius beta-ing skills. So thank you so much _suburbs_!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any characters or places you recognize from Camp Rock. Their characters may be tweaked a bit, but hopefully not too much.

* * *

I'll never know how we managed to make it through the first couple of weeks without a major incident, but we did. Anybody who hadn't known what was going on had a hard time accepting and adjusting to the change in our group, but nothing was too dramatic and I was sure it was because Shane and I were still friendly that they just went with it. Spending time with Shane writing music and starting preparations for a new album managed to heal things surprisingly quickly between us. I'm not sure if it was the familiarity of it all or Jason being there to mellow things out, but we were getting along fine. Despite that all, I was still surprised when Jason stepped out of the room and the invitation came.

"I was thinking of having a small cookout tomorrow," Shane said off-handedly. "You want to come?"

"Sure," I blinked. "If you want me to."

"Yeah, I want you to come," he nodded. There was a hesitation before he added, "I think maybe you should bring Mitchie."

"Are you serious?" I asked in disbelief.

"Very," he nodded. "I know I haven't talked to her since we broke up, but it's been three weeks now – I have to talk to her sooner or later. And Caitlyn hasn't really spoken with her either, but I think it's a good idea."

"Wait, Caitlyn's going to be there and you think bringing Mitchie's a good idea?"

He sighed. "I know it's crazy, but Jason's birthday is a month away. Don't you think it's a good idea for us to try and work something out before then? I mean, _we're_ good, but the girls still have a lot to work out,"he reasoned. "I'd rather their blow up was now and not then."

I looked to the door Jason had disappeared behind and groaned. Shane was right. If there was going to be a big fight it couldn't happen at Jason's birthday; that wouldn't be fair. Mitchie and Caitlyn hadn't spoken more than a few mumbled words since Mitchie had driven the drunken lot of us home – nearly three weeks ago. Mitchie was always working on her album or spending time with me while Caitlyn had stuck by Jason and Shane when she wasn't at work. They wouldn't go near each other if they could help it so we'd have to take matters into our own hands.

"I'll make sure she's there – you're in charge of getting Caitlyn there."

"That's easy," he said dismissively. "I just won't tell her Mitchie's going to be there. She'll come. It's you I feel bad for. Mitchie's not going to want to come see me, with or without Caitlyn being there."

"I can get her there," I said confidently.

"We'll see," he smirked at me.

* * *

It took a lot of persuading, but when the next afternoon came Mitchie was in my car and we were on our way to Shane's cookout. She wasn't happy that I had even asked her to go, but she knew she had to face them all sometime.

"I can't believe you're making me go over to his house," she grumbled as I turned out of her neighborhood.

"You could have said no," I pointed out.

"I did," she glared.

"Well you could have said it more than once."

"_I did_," she repeated, glaring harder.

"You didn't have to give in," I grinned over at her.

"You're unbelievable!" she threw her hands in the air. "_Come on Mitch, I think it's a really good idea you go. This is all going to have to be worked out sooner or later. We need to work on being together as a group again – before Jason's birthday. You don't want to ruin his birthday do you?_" She repeated in a pretty good imitation of my voice. "Of course I had to give in. I didn't have much of a choice."

"Do you want me to just take you back home?"

"Yes," she snapped. I nodded and switched lanes to turn around, knowing she didn't actually mean it and that she was just annoyed. I made it back to her street before she sighed and ran a hand over her face. "No. I'll go."

"Excellent," I grinned, pulling in a random driveway and turning back in the right direction again. "I know this is gonna be hard for you, but I'll be right there by your side. And Jason'll be there too."

"So I don't even have to talk to either of them?" she asked hopefully.

I shook my head. "You know that you do have to."

"It was worth asking though wasn't it?" she half smiled.

When we reached Shane's house Caitlyn's and Jason's cars were already there. I frowned; I had hoped to ease her into their company one at a time, not all at once. We got out of the car and went up to the door.

"You ready?" I asked quietly, looking over to her.

"As ready as I'm going to be," she answered dejectedly.

I leaned down and gave her a slow kiss. When I pulled back I looked her in the eyes. "I'll be right by your side. Okay?"

She nodded and I rang the doorbell. It was only a minute before Shane answered the door.

"Great, you made it," he greeted. With a glance over his shoulder he added in a quieter voice, "both of you."

"Mitchie's mom made her pasta salad," I grinned awkwardly, holding up the dish in my hands.

"Oh awesome," he said excitedly. "I can never get enough of that." He took the bowl from my hands and stepped back, letting us in the house before shutting the door behind us. "If there's any of this left over I've got dibs on it!"

"Fine with me," I laughed. "I got my own dish of it at home."

"Will you tell her I said thanks Mitchie," he looked over to her.

"Yes," she said quietly back, not looking at him.

"Great. Oh, and Mitchie?" he asked. She looked up at him and he sent me a quick look before smirking and looking back at her. "Quit acting like you don't know me."

She smiled weakly up at him and nodded lightly. I found her hand and squeezed it, letting her know I was right there. You could feel the awkward tension in the air and it wasn't just between them. I hadn't realized it until now, but this would be the first time I'd be around Shane and Caitlyn with Mitchie as _my_ girlfriend. Jason had been around us a few times over the past two weeks, but that was all. And if it was weird for me I could only imagine how odd it must be for everyone else.

"Well," Shane said after a moment of no one saying anything. "Let's head to the back." We followed him through to the kitchen. "Now that we're all here we can start the grill up."

"Good," Caitlyn's voice came from the open sliding glass door. "We're starving out here!" Her voice was getting closer and Mitchie took a small step towards me. "If you weren't here soon Nate I was go-" she cut off as she entered the door and her eyes fell on Mitchie. "Oh. I didn't know you were bringing her."

"I told him to invite her," Shane spoke up. She looked to him sharply.

"You invited her over after everything that's happened like you're old friends?"

"Don't cause any drama right now Caitlyn," Jason appeared behind her in the door. "The party just started." He smiled over at us. "Hey Nate. Hey Mitch."

* * *

I wasn't sure why I thought coming here was a good idea. I should have known better than to follow one of Shane's plans. Shane kept trying to get Mitchie involved in conversations with Caitlyn – she'd give short answers and shove more food in her mouth to avoid a second question. Caitlyn was happily pretending Mitchie wasn't even at the table – talking to whoever wasn't trying to interact with Mitchie at any given moment. Jason, thankfully, was doing his best to talk to everyone at large – telling stories about anything he could think of, erasing any tension possible. It wasn't until dinner was over and Jason brought the strawberry shortcake out that the girls really even acknowledged each other.

"Okay, who has room for a piece?" he asked as he held the knife over the cake. "Mitchie? I know you want one."

"Yes please," she spoke up. "I can never turn down strawberry shortcake – it's my favorite."

I'd thought maybe I was the only one to catch Caitlyn's eye roll, but apparently I wasn't.

"Is there a problem Caitlyn?" Shane asked, sounding slightly defensive.

"Nope," she smiled sweetly at him. "Just getting ready to enjoy her favorite dessert."

"This is ridiculous," he snapped. "Don't get all mad just because I'm actually making an effort to save all our friendships."

"Save your friendships?" She laughed. "You don't have a friendship with her. She was your girlfriend now she's not. No friendship involved."

"If you really think that after all the time we dated we never were friends as well you're delusional."

"Was that a yes you wanted a piece?" Jason asked loudly, stopping their argument in its tracks.

"Yes please," Caitlyn mumbled.

"Can I talk to you inside first please Caitlyn?" Shane asked tensely. She nodded and followed him inside. I figured she had a lot more on her mind she wanted to say before Jason had cut her off and would love the chance to share her thoughts. It was several minutes before they came back out. They silently sat down and started eating the slices of cake Jason had placed in their spots.

"So Mitchie," Shane asked a few bites in. "How's it going in the studio?"

She looked up, startled at the direct question, and cleared her throat. "Good," she nodded. I nudged her, giving her a look to go on and she elaborated. "There are some really great people working with me. And Nate did some vocals and instruments on a few songs."

"I'm glad to hear that." He nodded. "Let me know if you need my help with anything."

She bit her lip and nodded. "Thanks."

There was a silent moment where I watched Shane send a meaningful glance at Caitlyn. She sighed, stole a few strawberry slices from his plate and turned to Mitchie. "Did you decide on all the songs you were going to use?"

If Mitchie looked surprised at Shane's question that was nothing compared to how she looked now. "Uh, um, no. We've only decided on eight of them. We're thinking three or four more."

Caitlyn hesitated before asking. "Which ones did you decide on?"

Shane nudged me and motioned for Jason and me to follow him into the kitchen. We quickly gathered the dishes and slipped inside while the girls talked about music – something we knew would be neutral ground for them. We quietly started the clean up, listening to their voices carry inside.

"This is good," Jason nodded as he rinsed a plate clean, looking out the window at them. "It's been about ten minutes and they aren't arguing yet. I knew they'd be able to work something out."

"I don't think it'll be that easy," I shook my head, moving beside him to look out the window.

"Cait only started being nice because I made her promise," Shane informed joining us.

"Being nice and having a full conversation are two different things."

"Jason," I sighed, turning to look at him. "That doesn't mean anything. They're just _avoiding_ the fall out and that solves absolutely nothing."

"And you know Caitlyn's the type to hold a grudge," Shane added.

"I think she'll get over it though," Jason shrugged. "Don't you?"

"You weren't there to see their big fight," I shook my head. "I've never seen Caitlyn so angry."

"You know what the bigger problem is?" Shane asked, "She was totally disappointed as well. Imagine thinking your best friend's a great girl then finding out she isn't as great as you always thought. I felt the same way about the both of you."

"I never even thought of that," I sighed, moving away from the window and continuing to clean up. Shane and Jason followed my lead. "I just feel bad you know? It's not like Mitchie ever wanted any of this to happen and neither did I. It _did_ happen though and we both hated ourselves for it. I hate that I'm responsible for all this awkwardness between everyone. I hate that they aren't getting along because of me. I hate it all."

"Don't be like that," Shane told me. "It isn't all your fault."

"I know that," I laughed bitterly. "It's Mitchie's too, but it's also mine and you guys need to understand that. It sucks for Mitchie that we're both to blame and she's the one that no one will talk to."

"I talk to her," Jason frowned.

"I know you do Jase."

"And I'm trying," Shane pointed out. "I don't want to hate her."

"Is that why she's here then?"

I froze and looked to Jason and Shane panicked, hoping that maybe one of them happened to do a great Caitlyn imitation. No such luck. We each looked towards the door slowly. Caitlyn was standing there with her hands on her hips while Mitchie stood beside her with her arms crossed uncomfortably. I winced. How much had they heard? I hadn't even noticed that their conversation had ended.

"Is what why she's here?" Shane smiled uncomfortably at Caitlyn.

"Is she here because she has no friends left and you feel you need to change that?"

"No Caitlyn," he said slowly. "She's here because she already _is_ our friend."

"I don't like being lied to." She put her hands on her hips. "Are you really trying to save your friendship with her? Or did you think putting us together would magically make things between the two of us all better?"

"Both?" Shane answered uncertainly.

"Things between the two of us aren't your concern," she narrowed her eyes at him. "I told you if you wanted to be her friend still go ahead. I'm not budging as easily. You all need to understand there's more than just the fact she cheated on Shane wrong between us."

"Well what else is wrong?" Jason asked quickly. "We want to help you guys through this, but we won't know how to if we don't know what's fully wrong."

"This is between Caitlyn and me," Mitchie spoke up confidently, surprising me. I expected her to retreat inside herself and just watch this play out. "We've both said and done things that none of you can help make up for."

"I know you think you're being helpful," Caitlyn added, "but you really aren't. Just accept the fact that we aren't getting along and that I don't know that I will ever really get over this."

Mitchie nodded in agreement and Shane frowned. "But you promised me-"

"I promised you I wouldn't be unnecessarily mean," Caitlyn interrupted Shane. "I didn't say I was about to become best friends with her again. For your sake, I will be civil and that's all you're getting out of me." She turned and looked over to Mitchie before she spoke up again. "I don't hate Mitchie, but I won't ever be able to look at her the same again. I'm not even sure how you can, Shane. You asked though and I'll do my best."

"We can fake it," Mitchie added. "We can get along for your guys' sakes. You'll just have to take what you can get from us for now."

"We don't want you to just get along for our sakes though," Jason frowned. "You two have been best friends for years."

"Why are you both so okay with not getting along?" I asked confused. I really couldn't wrap my head around the concept. Friends fight, it was a natural thing, but to be so dismissive of it was crazy. "I know you're upset about this all Mitch. And Caitlyn, you have to be too. I mean, you were upset when Shane wasn't talking to you so why wouldn't you be now? Mitchie's your best friend."

"Will you stop telling us we're best friends?" Caitlyn rolled her eyes. "We're perfectly aware of our relationship over the past several years of our lives."

"We just don't like the idea that you won't be getting along," Shane explained. "It's been weird enough the past few weeks."

I shook my head when Jason was about to speak up again.

"Forget it guys," I sighed. It's not that I didn't want them to make up, but it was clear they wouldn't budge no matter how much we pushed. The more we pushed the more they'd resist. We had to back off before we made it worse. "We've all made it through this, but their friendship is nothing like ours. They have their own problems to work out. We should just let them do it in their own way."

Shane and Jason reluctantly nodded and turned back to their clean up tasks.

"Now that that's all settled what can we help clean up?" Caitlyn asked moving towards the sink. "How about I do the dishes?"

"It's okay Cait," Shane smiled. "We've got it under control."

"But you have to go fix your hair," she told him.

"There is nothing wrong with my hair," he said confidently.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," she smirked. Without any more warning her hand dipped into the dishwater, emerging with a handful of soapy bubbles that were quickly discarded into his hair.

"I cannot believe you just did that," he said slowly.

"It was an accident," she smiled innocently. As Shane grabbed his own handful of suds and took off after Caitlyn,Mitchie and I retreated back out to the table to pick up the rest of the mess.

"Thanks for backing off in there," Mitchie smiled lightly up at me.

"I knew we were going to upset you both soon if we didn't stop. I didn't want that to happen."

"I was starting to get angry," she agreed. She hesitated and bit her lip. "When wasn't Shane talking to Caitlyn?"

"After you broke up with him for about the whole week," I thought back. "He was mad that she knew about us and never told him."

"It wasn't her place to tell him," Mitchie pointed out.

"I know, but she still knew and kept it from him. They're really close friends so he took it pretty personally."

"They aren't that close of friends."

"That's what I thought too," I shrugged. "but, Shane told me they were best friends."

"Since when?" she asked confused.

"I don't know," I answered getting annoyed with all the questioning. If she wanted to know about their friendship so badly she could go make up with the both of them and ask them herself. "I guess between the breakfasts and the various things we've all done together they just got close."

"What breakfasts?"

"The ones they go to some mornings," I sighed.

She fell into silence as we grabbed the last of the things off the table and brought them back inside. She looked like she was thinking pretty hard about something while we got rags and went back outside to wipe down the table. I wasn't sure what the big deal was. Why would it matter if Shane and Caitlyn were good friends and hung out?We were all good friends in a sense – we all hung out with each other regularly. It had been that way since both girls moved to town.

"How upset was Caitlyn when Shane wouldn't talk to her?" Mitchie asked suddenly.

"I don't really know," I shook my head. "She wouldn't talk to me. Why?"

"No reason," she said before falling silent again.

I stopped wiping the table down and looked at her. Her face was scrunched up like she was thinking hard about something. She wasn't even paying attention to what she was doing and was washing the same spot on the table over and over. I moved next to her and took her hand off the rag, turning her to face me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing's wrong," she said dismissively. "I'm just trying to figure something out."

"Anything I can help with?"

"No thanks," she smiled up at me. "I think I've got it now." She looked over her shoulder towards the kitchen window. Jason and Caitlyn could be seen washing the dishes but Shane was nowhere in sight. With her smile still in place she turned back to me. "I love you."

"I love you too," I smiled back.

"Thanks for making me come here. I think it was a good thing."

"I didn't _make_ you come, but you're welcome."

I leaned down to give her a kiss and smiled as she met me halfway. If there was one thing I'd always be able to take away from this whole mess it was that Mitchie and I were together now. As long as I remembered that, it made everything else that was going on seem not as bad.

It wasn't long before everything was cleaned up and Shane was bringing out a variety of games to play. Once we were settled around a game of Monopoly – an agreed favorite – Mitchie started to act weird. At first she just wasn't saying anything at all, the thoughtful look staying on her face. After that she observed everything going on around her – concentrating on Caitlyn too much for my comfort. I tried to ignore it though because this was just a hard day for her. Then she started to talk.

"It's really good to be able to talk to you again Shane," she said off handedly as she moved her piece along the board. "It's been weird. You know? We went from talking everyday to never."

"It doesn't help that you disappeared for a week."

She laughed lightly. "Don't blame that; you didn't try calling."

"I was mad at you," he raised an eyebrow. "And I had every right to be."

"I know," she smiled. "I'm just pointing out that I'm glad that's not the case anymore. And I was very happy to find that you aren't holding this against Nate. You were friends before I was ever in the picture and I'd hate to be the reason your friendship ended."

"Well, I'd like to think I'm more forgiving than that," he said slowly. "Plus both Nate and Jason stuck by me through some really tough times. I'm not going to forget that. They're good friends - even with everything that's been going on."

I knew I probably should have been happy with Shane's words, but Mitchie's smirk put a real damper on any good feelings.

"Right, because it'd be kind of hypocritical to bail on someone who never bailed on you. And we don't like hypocrites." She smiled over at Caitlyn, and I finally started to understand where this seemingly random conversation was going. She was about to make an attack. "Right Caitlyn?"

"Right," she agreed uncertainly.

"So I think it's just kind of sad to find out that you've been so hypocritical all this time." Mitchie went on and paid no attention to everyone else's shock. "I didn't want to make up with you before because I knew you weren't ready and I was okay with that. It wasn't that I was mad at you then, but now..."

When she trailed off Jason and I both tried to use the pause as a chance to try and defuse the situation. Unfortunately we both cut off when we heard the other start talking; then before one of us could speak up again Caitlyn was talking.

"Let me get this straight," she held up both her hands to silence the rest of us. "You're calling _me_ a hypocrite?" Mitchie nodded happily and both of Caitlyn's eyebrows shot up. "How do you figure that?"

"Oh, I think you know why," Mitchie said her voice hinting towards a singsong tone. "When were you going to tell me?"

"About what?" she scoffed.

"About Shane silly," Mitchie rolled her eyes playfully.

"What _about _Shane?"

"Yeah," he spoke up, confused. "What about me?"

"What are you talking about Mitch?" I asked quietly, feeling very much like I had missed something. I knew this wasn't going to have good results, but I had no idea where she was going with this so I was no help. She ignored me and continued talking to Caitlyn.

"What are you getting at?" Caitlyn narrowed her eyes.

"So when were you going to tell me," Mitchie repeated like she didn't hear Caitlyn's question.

"Is there something I'm missing here?" Shane asked looking between both girls for an answer.

"I think we're all missing something," I muttered.

"Don't get into this Mitchie," Jason spoke up. "Don't say something you're going to regret."

Mitchie and Caitlyn ignored him and just stared at each other, each waiting for the other to speak. I wasn't sure what was going on, but Mitchie looked oddly satisfied about something and Caitlyn looked defensive. Caitlyn was the one to crack.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you," she crossed her arms and looked away slightly.

"Alright," Mitchie sighed. "I guess I'll just say it then." Caitlyn looked straight back at Mitchie, her eyes slightly wide. "When were you going to tell me you had feelings for Shane?"

There was a beat of silence where no one moved. I blinked looking between Caitlyn and Mitchie, surprised at the turn in this conversation.

"Caitlyn does not have _feelings_ for me," Shane scoffed confidently. "We're just good friends."

Everyone looked at him and still Caitlyn didn't deny anything. It all started to make sense to me. The extra long hugs. The way Caitlyn was so protective of Shane. Now that I thought about it I couldn't really believe I hadn't figured it out. There were a lot of signs about her feelings – I guess I was always too preoccupied with Mitchie to notice. Caitlyn liked Shane.

When no one said anything Shane looked over to Caitlyn uncertainly, "Right?"

"Right," she said meekly, not looking at him directly.

"Caitlyn?" he said questioningly. "You don't like me like that, do you?"

Caitlyn winced a little and sent a glare at Mitchie before looking over to Shane. "It just so happens I might have developed some feelings for you."

"No, you didn't," he shook his head. "How could you have? "

"I don't know," she practically groaned. "Sometimes things like this just happen."

"Which is why," Mitchie spoke up smugly, "you don't have a right to be so mad at me for the same thing."

"Are you insane?" Caitlyn snapped, happy to be able to take her anger out on Mitchie. "This is completely different."

"It is not," Mitchie denied. "You fell for my boyfriend!"

"So what? You never knew until now. I _never_ acted on a single feeling for him." Caitlyn leaned across the table and I knew I'd be having a long night talking this out with Mitchie when we left. "I stood by you _every day_ of your relationship with him. Every single time you two fought I helped you through it. Every single time something great happened I listened to you go on and on about it. So don't you _dare_ call me a hypocrite. I have done _nothing_ wrong."

Mitchie and Caitlyn stared each other down again before Mitchie pushed her chair away from the table. "Can we leave now please, Nate?" I nodded and she stood. "Shane, thanks for inviting me. Nate, I'll be in the car."

I turned back to the other three uncomfortably. Shane was staring at Caitlyn liked he hadn't even noticed Mitchie leave. I looked up to Jason and noticed he was looking between Shane and Caitlyn cautiously. I copied him.

"You really like me?" Shane asked, sounding like he couldn't wrap his head around the concept. She nodded hesitantly and he blinked. "Oh, well, I… I don't know what to say actually."

"It's alright Shane," she smiled half heartily at him. "I understand. Really, don't worry about it."

"No Caity, don't be like that. Don't jump to conclusions," he said hurriedly. "I just don't know what to think. I'm not saying I _don't_ like you. I'm just saying I'd never thought about it before. I just – I need to think about it. I need to think about a lot of things."

Caitlyn gave him a half smile and I had a sense that things would turn out okay eventually. That's all I needed before I got up, said my goodbyes and followed Mitchie to the car, ready to have a long talk with her.

* * *

**A/N:** There's only one chapter left after this - It'll be an epilogue to bring closure to the million of loose ends I have in here. I'll try to finish it soon. Apart from that I will be writing up a few related oneshots to this story. They will be scenes from other character's points of view from this story's universe. Thanks so much for reading!


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